Coin Highlights
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Country: United States
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Denomination: 25 Cents (Quarter Dollar)
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Series: American Women Quarters Program – 4th design of 2023 and 9th issue overall
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Year: 2023
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Mints: Philadelphia (“P”
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Composition (clad): 91.67% copper, 8.33% nickel; Weight: 5.67 g; Diameter: 24.26 mm; Thickness: 1.75 mm; Edge: Reeded
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Obverse: Laura Gardin Fraser’s right-facing portrait of George Washington, originally created in 1931 for the 1932 bicentennial quarter, with LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and date 2023
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Reverse: Jovita Idar with hands clasped; her blouse is formed by words and newspaper titles reflecting her activism and the Spanish-language papers she wrote for, surrounded by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, QUARTER DOLLAR, and JOVITA IDAR
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Reverse Sculptor/Designer: John P. McGraw, United States Mint medallic artist
Historical Significance
The American Women Quarters Program (2022–2025) issues five new designs each year to honor women whose achievements span suffrage, civil rights, government, the arts, science, and more. The Jovita Idar quarter represents the 2023 theme of activism and social change, joining Bessie Coleman, Edith Kanakaʻole, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Maria Tallchief in that year’s lineup.
Jovita Idar (1885–1946) was a Mexican-American journalist, teacher, nurse, suffragist, and civil-rights activist from Laredo, Texas. Through her family’s newspaper La Crónica and later El Progreso and Evolución, she exposed discrimination, segregation, and lynching targeting Mexican Americans in Texas and advocated for political and educational reform.
She helped organize the Primer Congreso Mexicanista (First Mexican Congress), co-founded and led La Liga Femenil Mexicanista (League of Mexican Women) to provide free schooling for Mexican-American children, and supported bilingual education and women’s suffrage. During the Mexican Revolution she even crossed the border to serve as a nurse for wounded soldiers, underlining how her activism extended beyond the printed page.
The reverse design captures that legacy in a visually clever way—Idar’s figure is literally built from Spanish and English words and newspaper names, turning the typography of her work into the fabric of her portrait and reinforcing the idea that she “fought with her pen” for justice and education.
Collectibility
Like other American Women Quarters, the Jovita Idar issue is widely accessible in circulation yet offers multiple collectible formats:
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P & D business strikes for rolls, bags, and album sets
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S-mint clad proofs with frosted devices and mirrored fields
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S-mint 99.9% silver proofs from the American Women Quarters Silver Proof Set, combining numismatic finish with intrinsic metal value
With a total mintage around 376 million, it’s common in circulation but increasingly popular in high grades and as part of complete American Women Quarters runs. Modern specialists also watch 2023 AWQ issues—including the Idar quarter—for die varieties and striking errors, which can command strong premiums over face value.
Beyond series completists, this coin appeals strongly to collectors focused on Mexican-American history, Texas history, journalism, civil rights, women’s suffrage, and bilingual education—making the 2023 Jovita Idar quarter a natural centerpiece in any themed modern U.S. collection.
