By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes ….
Licensed by Public Law 116-330 (PDF link), 5 new circulating commemorative reverse designs have been launched every year of the four-year American Ladies Quarters program. That includes all kinds of designs and aesthetic approaches, this system honors essential ladies from all through American historical past and a variety of fields and backgrounds. The yr 2023 began notably robust with the Bessie Coleman American Ladies Quarter, which the United States Mint formally launched on January 3 because the sixth coin within the 20-coin collection. Designed by Chris Costello and sculpted by Eric David Custer, the reverse of the coin commemorates pioneering Black aviator Bessie Coleman
Who Is Bessie Coleman and Why Is She on the Quarter?
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was the primary African American (and Native American) feminine to earn a pilot’s license and fly professionally. She was born on January 26, 1892, to a big household of sharecroppers in Atlanta, Texas. Shifting to Waxahachie when she was younger, Coleman labored together with her household within the cotton fields and attended a segregated elementary college. Excelling in her research (particularly math), she gained a scholarship to check at a Baptist college at age 12. Working and saving cash, Coleman attended Langston College in Langston, Texas, after graduating from highschool. Nonetheless, her financial savings ran out after just one yr, and she or he needed to return dwelling.
Ultimately, Coleman moved to Chicago to dwell with household, and that is the place she first discovered concerning the pilots who served in World Conflict I. This impressed her, and she or he bought a second job to lift the cash she would want to grow to be a pilot herself.
Sadly, an African American girl couldn’t get her pilot’s license within the United States on the time. With the assistance of benefactors like Robert S. Abbott, the founding father of The Chicago Defender, an essential African American newspaper that fought segregation and noticed contributions from such public Black luminaries because the journalist Ida B. Wells (the primary 2025 American Ladies Quarters honoree) and the poet Langston Hughes, Coleman traveled to France in November 1920.
After she earned her license in June 1921, she returned to the States in September of that yr to a lot fanfare. However there nonetheless weren’t {many professional} alternatives for a Black girl in American aviation, so Coleman sought extra coaching in France and Germany to make a residing as a stunt pilot.
She as soon as once more returned to america and was a preferred draw for the following 5 years. Coleman’s first airshow, which honored the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment for its service in World Conflict I, befell on Lengthy Island, New York in September 1922 Her aircraft of selection was the Curtiss JN-4 biplane of “Inverted Jenny” stamp fame.
As she traveled across the nation performing stunts in her signature fashion–criticized by the media of the time as “too flamboyant”–Coleman typically gave talks on aviation and African American rights. She additionally refused to fly in occasions that excluded Blacks from the viewers.
On April 30, 1926, Bessie Coleman ignored the truth that her new aircraft needed to make three emergency landings on its manner from Dallas to Jacksonville, Florida and used it anyway in preparation for the following day’s present. The aircraft unexpectedly went right into a dive and threw Coleman–who was not the pilot–from the aircraft at a peak of about 2,000 toes. Her loss of life was deeply mourned within the Black press, and a funeral ceremony held in Chicago was led by Ida B. Wells herself.
At the moment, Bessie Coleman is thought for uplifting future generations of African People to grow to be pilots, finally getting licenses in america and even flying into area. The 2023 American Ladies Quarter celebrating the life and legacy of Bessie Coleman is a long-overdue numismatic commemoration of the lady whose fearlessness, arduous work, and elegance earned her the nickname “Queen Bess”.
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2023-D American Ladies Bessie Coleman Quarter Market Knowledge and Noteworthy Specimens
Bessie Coleman Quarters from the Philadelphia and Denver mints have been shipped to banks on January 3, 2023, with cash getting into circulation by February. Numismatic merchandise like luggage and rolls went on sale February 14. Product choices included 100-coin luggage of uncirculated enterprise strike quarters (P or D) for $40.00 every; a two-roll set (P and D) of 80 cash for $36.00; and a three-roll set (P, D, and S) of 120 cash for $54.00.
On the finish of December 2024, PCGS reviews 959 complete grading occasions for the 2023-D Bessie Coleman Quarter, with 383 examples licensed MS67 and none finer. NGC, nonetheless, reviews a complete of 1,159 grading occasions throughout all grades and solely 4 specimens on the top-pop MS69.
CAC Grading, comparatively new to the full-service grading enterprise, has but to holder any 2023-D Bessie Coleman Quarters.
Costs for licensed examples on eBay–corresponding to these listed beneath–differ wildly relying on the variety of eyeballs any given lot manages to draw. However on common, higher-grade quarters are promoting for about $7, and uncooked examples are promoting on eBay for round $1.50. Apparently, each estimates are increased than costs for many different entries within the American Ladies Quarters program.
Prime Inhabitants: PCGS MS67 (383, 12/2024), NGC MS69 (4, 12/2024), and CAC N/A (0, 12/2024).
- NGC MS68: eBay, October 13, 2024, Lot 395750050504 – $14.50. American Ladies – 2023 label (#2012, retired). 7 bids.
- PCGS MS67: eBay, October 12, 2024, Lot 395750306013 – $7.39. 8 bids.
- PCGS MS67: eBay, October 27, 2024, Lot 156460389264 – $6.50. 5 bids.
- PCGS MS67: eBay, November 7, 2024, Lot 395838682472 – $12.50. 7 bids.
- PCGS MS67: eBay, November 23, 2024, Lot 395879657582 – $7.05. 8 bids.
- PCGS MS67: eBay, December 5, 2024, Lot 156542733510 – $2.25. 4 bids.
- PCGS MS67: eBay, December 21, 2024, Lot 395973881151 – $5.50. 7 bids.
- NGC MS66: eBay, November 3, 2024, Lot 395835257859 – $12.50. American Ladies – 2023 label (#2012, retired). 8 bids.
- NGC MS66: eBay, December 13, 2024, Lot 156565784119 – $4.95. American Ladies – 2023 label (#2012, retired). 2 bids.
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Design
Obverse:
As an alternative of a model of John Flanagan’s bust of George Washington that has been on the entrance of the quarter since 1932, the widespread obverse of all American Ladies Quarters depicts a portrait of Washington initially sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark Washington’s two hundredth birthday. Although her work was a really useful design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon finally chosen the acquainted Flanagan design.
The phrase LIBERTY arcs clockwise alongside the highest of the rim; the 4 phrases of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST are divided into 4 traces on the left aspect of the coin, behind Washington’s head. The D mintmark for the Denver Mint is situated beneath the date 2023 on the appropriate.
Reverse:
A relaxed and assured Bessie Coleman, wearing a leather-based helmet, gloves, and flight jacket, appears to be like into the space as she lowers her aviator’s goggles from her brow in preparation for a flight. To the viewer’s proper, a Curtiss JN-4 biplane soars above a thick patch of clouds. Instantly above the scene is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination QUARTER DOLLAR, in a sans serif font and separated by an incuse dot, wrap clockwise across the high half of the rim. Beneath the principle scene, the identify BESSIE COLEMAN is inscribed within the exergue at a slight ahead angle suggesting movement. Three stout traces suggesting wings to both aspect of BESSIE, rendered in a mode harking back to the Prime Gun brand. Beneath her identify is the date 6-15-21, which is when Coleman was awarded her worldwide pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Paris.
United States Mint Creative Infusion Program (AIP) artist Chris Costello created the quarter’s design; his initials CTC are to the left of COLEMAN. Mint Medallic Artist Eric David Custer sculpted Costello’s design; his initials EC are on the appropriate.
The next video from the Mint briefly discusses Bessie Coleman and the 2023 American Ladies Quarter honoring her:
Edge:
The sting of the 2023-D Bessie Coleman Quarter is reeded with 119 reeds.
Designers
Laura Gardin Fraser was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1889. After receiving an schooling on the Columbia College and later on the Artwork College students League of New York, the place she studied beneath her future husband James Earle Fraser. Laura Gardin Fraser died in 1966. In 2022, the portrait of George Washington that she submitted for the Washington Quarter changed John Flanagan’s long-running portrait (submitted in the identical competitors) throughout the American Ladies Quarters Program.
AIP artist Chris Costello is a prolific designer for each the U.S. and the Royal Mint UK. He additionally created the Papyrus typeface in 1982.
Eric David Custer studied artwork at Edinboro College (now a part of Pennsylvania Western College) and industrial design on the Artwork Institute of Pittsburgh. He joined the Mint in 2008 and have become a Medallic Artist in 2021.
Coin Specs
| Nation: | United States of America |
| 12 months of Situation: | 2023 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Greenback (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | D (Denver) |
| Mintage: | 317,200,000 |
| Alloy: | .750 copper, .250 nickel outer layer, bonded to pure copper internal core |
| Weight: | 5.67 g |
| Diameter: | 24.26 mm |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| OBV Designer: | Laura Gardin Fraser |
| REV Designer: | Chris Costello (design) | Eric David Custer (sculpt) |
| High quality: | Enterprise Strike |
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