American Women Quarters Errors and Varieties: What Is Real
Out of 8.02 billion coins, the American Women Quarters Program has produced two documented off-metal strikes, one fully cataloged doubled die, and one notable die clash. Almost everything else being sold as an error on these coins is ordinary die wear, machine doubling, or post-mint damage.
This is the part of the subject where the published record is worst. Neither PCGS, NGC, CONECA nor the Mint ranks for searches about American Women Quarter errors. What ranks instead is content marketing with invented names and invented price tags.
The documented errors
Two off-metal strikes, both on nickel planchets
- 2022-P Dr. Sally Ride on a Jefferson nickel planchet. NGC MS 67, believed unique. The planchet is 5.00 g and 21.21 mm instead of 5.670 g and 24.26 mm, so the undersized blank cut off parts of LIBERTY, QUARTER DOLLAR and the honoree's name. Sold for $10,181, GreatCollections, 30 April 2023.
- 2022-D Wilma Mankiller on a nickel planchet. PCGS MS64, reported by Mike Byers in CoinWeek on 23 June 2026 as only the second publicly reported off-metal error in the program. No sale price published.
One fully documented doubled die
The 2024-P Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Doubled Die Reverse, cataloged by Dr. James Wiles as Wexler 2024-P 25c MW VDDR-001. Strong hub doubling shows on the Medal of Honor, specifically the cannon muzzle and the right hanger and right outline of the star, plus doubling in Walker's hair. It was found by Axer Enrique Cotto, reported to Ken Potter, and published in Numismatic News on 23 January 2025. Raw examples sold at roughly $75 to $205 at discovery. This is the most collectible variety in the series.
One major die clash
The 2023 Edith Kanakaʻole clash, VCR#1/CDOR#1, in which the reverse die left the letters EDITH imprinted across Washington's profile on the obverse. Ken Potter compared it to the 1888-O VAM 1A "Scarface" Morgan dollar. At least 11 examples are known. Potter declined to put a value on it, and so does this page.
Three certified errors you can look up
| 2022-D Mankiller, obverse missing clad layer, 4.8 g | NGC MS-62, cert 6978464-003 |
|---|---|
| 2022-P Mankiller, obverse retained die break | NGC MS-63, cert 6979946-001 |
| 2023-S Bessie Coleman, struck through debris | ANACS MS-66, cert 7517937 |
The claims that are not real
| Claim | Reality |
|---|---|
| "IN COD WE TRUST" | The G's descender renders faintly on some strikes. It is the typeface, not an error, and no certified example of a genuine COD error exists. Full explanation. |
| "The Hope Quarter" | It is the 2024 Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray quarter. Emily Damstra framed Murray's face inside the word HOPE by design. Not a separate coin, not a mystery, not an error. |
| "VOTO PARA LA MUJER is upside down" | It is set at an angle on the 2022 Nina Otero-Warren reverse because that is the design. Not a rotated die. |
| "The $10,000 Maya Angelou quarter" | 495,800,000 Angelou quarters were struck. The $10,181 figure belongs to a unique Sally Ride off-metal error and has been laundered onto nearly every coin in the series. |
| "Ghost Comet", "Drooling George", "Nesting Bird", "Third Eye", "Tumor on Wrist", "Splitting Headache" | Real die chips, clashes and deterioration, given invented names and invented prices. Michael Bugeja checked sold listings for Drooling George examples and found, in his words, that they do not sell for much at all. |
There are no CONECA-numbered American Women Quarter varieties in CONECA's public master list, which ends at 1945-D DDR-004 for Washington quarters. Wexler's free online quarter index stops at 1997-98. That vacuum is exactly why invented varieties fill the space.
Nine tests that separate a mint error from damage
- Weigh it. A $12 gram scale settles most disputes. Correct is 5.670 g, tolerance plus or minus 0.227 g, at 24.26 mm. A nickel planchet strike is 5.00 g at 21.21 mm. The documented missing-clad error is 4.8 g.
- Look for notched corners and true separation. This is CONECA's primary diagnostic for genuine doubling. Machine doubling shows flat shelf-like doubling that cuts into the device, with no notching.
- Check height and luster. Genuine die doubling is raised, rounded and carries full mint luster. Machine doubling is flat, shiny, smeared, and sits below normal device height.
- Is it everywhere? A real doubled die affects one side, in one defined area. Doubling all over both sides is die deterioration.
- Find a second example. One die strikes tens of thousands of coins, so a genuine doubled die is not unique. Off-metal strikes are the opposite: unique by nature.
- Look at the metal flow. Post-mint damage pushes metal around: scrapes, flattening on the opposite side, disturbed luster, displaced metal at the edges.
- Check the edge. The clad stripe should be continuous. A genuine broadstrike has no reeding at all; partial or damaged reeding is post-mint.
- Match it to a published diagnostic photograph before calling it VDDR-001.
- Never pay a premium for a raw variety coin. Get it into a PCGS, NGC, CAC or ANACS holder first, or buy one already in a holder.
Last verified: October 2026. Mintage figures are final.