It has a great design history: the beautiful “Standing Liberty” (1916-1930), with Lady Liberty striding between two walls; and the George Washington quarter that was the standard for most of the 20th century. The wildly successful 50 State program in 1999, five designs a year for ten years, which made quarters exciting and collectible—so exciting that the Mint rolled straight into the America the Beautiful series—also wonderful, featuring national parks and historical sites. So the Mint continued, this time honoring American women from 2022 to 2025.

And here, the story veers into the absurd: the program page for the American Women quarters now redirects to the US Mint shopping page, where the women quarters cannot be found. On the main page for the quarter, all the past designs can be viewed—except for the women series, which cannot be clicked on and only shows the “heads” side, i.e. George Washington’s profile.

The profile used on the scrubbed-from-the-website women’s quarters was the winning design for the original Washington quarter in 1932, by Laura Gardin Fraser. But Andrew Mellon, then-Secretary of the Treasury, overruled it in favor of John Flanagan.

In the past month I’ve visited both the Deep South and Portland, Oregon, meeting all kinds of people, all walks of life. And in both places, everyone was wonderful—kind, generous, and welcoming, looking me warmly in the eye. Our country, at the granular, everyday level, is fundamentally kind. We don’t need to hide our quarters. Any of them.

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Links:

• Quarter - US Mint

  
  

• 50 State Quarters (1999 - 2008) - US Mint

  
  

• America the Beautiful quarters (2010 - 2021) - US Mint

  
  

• American Women quarters (2022-2025) - US Mint (This links to a press release; the original program link of https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters now redirects to the main US Mint shopping page.)

  
  

• The Lost Quarter – E.D., American Heritage, September 2000

  
  

• “The Semiquincentennial One Ounce 24K Gold Proof Coin is the first 24-karat gold proof coin ever struck by the U.S. Mint that depicts a sitting President.” – US Mint

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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[1] Abigail brought the children of her brother William Smith and her son Charles to live with her because the children's fathers both struggled with alcoholism. Charles died shortly after his daughter Susanna, who was 4 years old, came to live in the President’s House in 1800.