Jovita Idár Quarter: Value, Mintage and Errors
The 2023 Jovita Idár quarter is worth 25 cents in circulated condition. 378,600,000 were struck, 190,600,000 at Philadelphia and 188,000,000 at Denver. Released on 14 August 2023, it was the fourth coin of 2023 and the ninth in the program. Fifteen inscriptions appear on the reverse, most of them forming Idár's body, which spell out the newspapers, organizations and roles of her life.
What this coin looks like
The reverse depicts Jovita Idár with her hands clasped. Within her body, the Mint explains, are inscriptions representing some of her greatest accomplishments: the words TEACHER, NURSE, JOURNALIST and MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS, the newspapers La Crónica, El Progreso, Evolución and El Heraldo Cristiano, the organizations La Cruz Blanca and La Liga Femenil Mexicanista, and ASTREA, one of the pen names she wrote under.
John P. McGraw, a U.S. Mint Medallic Artist, both designed and sculpted the reverse. In the Mint's release he said that after talking with her family members he was immediately inspired by her life, and that "Curiosity and education were the driving force in my design, much like Jovita Idar's life work." The Mint began shipping the quarter on 14 August 2023. In May 2025 it won the Best Circulating Coin or Coin Series category at the 32nd Mint Directors Conference.
The reverse inscriptions read:
- MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS
- TEACHER
- JOVITA IDAR
- NURSE
- EVOLUCIÓN
- ASTREA
- EL HERALDO CRISTIANO
- LA CRUZ BLANCA
- JOURNALIST
- LA CRÓNICA
- EL PROGRESO
- LA LIGA FEMENIL MEXICANISTA
- QUARTER DOLLAR
- E PLURIBUS UNUM
- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The obverse is the same on all 20 coins in the series: George Washington facing right, with LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, the date and the mint mark. The mint mark is to the right of Washington's neck, below the date. P is Philadelphia, D is Denver, S is San Francisco and appears only on proof and collector issues.
Is my Jovita Idár quarter an error?
No error or variety unique to this coin is documented in the grading-service and variety sources this site checks. That is the normal situation: only five of the 20 designs (Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, Edith Kanakaʻole, Bessie Coleman and Mary Edwards Walker) have a documented error or variety.
What people most often bring to this coin are the three claims that attach to every coin in the series: a faint G in IN GOD WE TRUST (not an error, it is the typeface), flat shiny doubling on the lettering (machine doubling, not a doubled die), and small raised lumps from die chips. The errors page has nine tests that separate a genuine mint error from damage, and the short list of errors that are actually documented in this program.
What is it worth?
| Found in change | 25 cents |
|---|---|
| Uncirculated, from a Mint roll or bag | $1 to $2 |
| Certified mint state | A few dollars, rising to roughly $86 at the top of the population for the series |
| Clad proof (S mint) | Typically less than the cost of grading it |
| Silver proof (S mint, .999 fine) | A floor set by the silver price, plus a small premium |
Values as of October 2026. The full reasoning, including the four cases where a coin in this series is genuinely worth more, is on the value page.
How many were made
| Philadelphia (P) | 190,600,000 |
|---|---|
| Denver (D) | 188,000,000 |
| Total | 378,600,000 |
| Rank in the series | 11 of 20 by mintage, lowest first |
| San Francisco (S) | Not published by the Mint |
San Francisco (S) figures are not shown because the Mint has never published per-design mintages for S-mint American Women Quarters. Any S figure published elsewhere is a secondary-source estimate, and the two most commonly cited sets contradict each other.
See the full mintage table for all 20 designs, or the key date page for where this coin sits in the series.
Collector versions
Besides the Philadelphia and Denver coins in circulation, the Mint sold three San Francisco versions of the 2023 Jovita Idár quarter directly to collectors. None were released into circulation.
| 2023-S uncirculated | Only in the 2023 three-roll set (40 P, 40 D, 40 S), $60.00 at issue |
|---|---|
| 2023-S clad proof | In the 2023 American Women Quarters Proof Set, $23.00 at issue, 60,934 sets sold |
| 2023-S silver proof | In the 2023 American Women Quarters Silver Proof Set, $80.00 at issue, 47,278 sets sold |
Set sales are as reported by CoinNews on 21 October 2026. Details on the proof and silver proof sets and the Mint rolls and bags.
Who was Jovita Idár?
Jovita Idár was born on 7 September 1885 in Laredo, Texas, one of eight children of Jovita and Nicasio Idár. Her father published La Crónica, a weekly newspaper in Laredo, and her brothers Eduardo and Aquilino also became writers.
In 1903 she earned a teaching certificate from the Holding Institute, a Methodist school in Laredo. She taught at a small school in Los Ojuelos, in Webb County, but resigned because she could not improve its poor conditions. She then joined her brothers writing for La Crónica, and after her father's death she ran the paper. In 1910 and 1911 the paper criticized discrimination against Mexican Americans in schools and social life, worsening economic conditions, the decline of Spanish and the lynching of Mexican Americans, and in 1911 Idár published a piece in it supporting woman suffrage. She wrote editorials under pen names including Astrea and Ave Negra.
In September 1911 she took part in the Primer Congreso Mexicanista in Laredo, where participants discussed educational, social, labor and economic issues and women spoke from the platform. In October 1911 she became the first president of La Liga Femenil Mexicanista (the League of Mexican Women), formed in Laredo, whose main work was educating poor children; the National Park Service notes that the group taught literacy, opened schools and offered bilingual instruction.
During the Mexican Revolution, in 1913, she and Leonor Villegas de Magnón crossed into Nuevo Laredo to care for the wounded. She later served as a nurse in northern Mexico with La Cruz Blanca (the White Cross), a relief organization that Villegas de Magnón created and financed.
Back in Laredo she wrote for El Progreso. According to the Handbook of Texas, in March 1916 she wrote an editorial there protesting President Woodrow Wilson's dispatch of U.S. troops to the border; that May Texas Rangers were directed to arrest the paper's editor, Leo D. Walker, and in June a mob kidnapped him and vandalized the office. A popular account says Idár stood in the doorway to stop the Rangers; the Handbook notes that this story comes from family interviews in the 1980s and that later research challenges it. In 1916 she and Eduardo started Evolución, a newspaper that promoted women's political rights.
On 20 May 1917 she married Bartolo Juárez, and the couple moved to San Antonio. There, as Jovita Juárez, she was active in the Democratic Party, founded a free kindergarten and worked as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking patients at a county hospital. She also edited El Heraldo Cristiano, a publication of the Rio Grande Conference of the Methodist Church. The couple had no children.
She died of tuberculosis at her home in San Antonio in June 1946, at 60, and was buried at San Jose Burial Park.
She was selected as a Mexican American journalist, activist, teacher and suffragist who worked for the civil rights of Mexican Americans and for women's rights.
The design
| Reverse designer | John P. McGraw, U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program |
|---|---|
| Reverse sculptor | John P. McGraw, U.S. Mint medallic artist |
| Obverse | Laura Gardin Fraser, designed and sculpted, 1931 |
| Released | 14 August 2023 |
Specifications
| Composition, circulating | 91.67% copper, 8.33% nickel (pure copper core, copper-nickel outer layers) |
|---|---|
| Composition, silver proof | .999 fine silver |
| Weight | 5.670 g clad, 6.343 g silver proof |
| Diameter | 24.26 mm |
| Thickness | 1.75 mm |
| Edge | reeded, 119 reeds |
| Mints | Philadelphia (P) and Denver (D) for circulation; San Francisco (S) for proof and collector issues |
No American Women Quarter was struck in 90% silver. The Mint moved its silver proof sets to .999 fine silver with the 2019-dated issues, before this program began.
Frequently asked questions
- How much is the Jovita Idár quarter worth?
- Twenty-five cents in circulated condition. An uncirculated example from a Mint roll or bag trades for one to two dollars.
- How many Jovita Idár quarters were made?
- 378,600,000 in total: 190,600,000 at Philadelphia and 188,000,000 at Denver.
- When was the Jovita Idár quarter released?
- It entered circulation on 14 August 2023.
- Who designed the Jovita Idár quarter?
- The reverse was designed by John P. McGraw of the Mint's Artistic Infusion Program and sculpted by U.S. Mint medallic artist John P. McGraw. The obverse, shared by all 20 coins, is by Laura Gardin Fraser.
- What words are on the Jovita Idár quarter?
- Besides UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, QUARTER DOLLAR, E PLURIBUS UNUM and JOVITA IDAR, the reverse reads MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS, TEACHER, NURSE, JOURNALIST, EVOLUCIÓN, ASTREA, EL HERALDO CRISTIANO, LA CRUZ BLANCA, LA CRÓNICA, EL PROGRESO and LA LIGA FEMENIL MEXICANISTA.
Sources
- Mintage figures: U.S. Mint circulating coin production dataset.
- Designer and sculptor credits: U.S. Mint, cross-checked against the artists' initials on the coin.
- Coin photograph: United States Mint image.
- U.S. Mint: United States Mint Begins Shipping 2023 American Women Quarters Honoring Jovita Idar on August 14th
- U.S. Mint: United States Mint Announces Designs for 2023 American Women Quarters Program Coins
- U.S. Mint: United States Mint Announces 2023 American Women Quarters Program Honorees
- U.S. Mint: Quarter Honoring Jovita Idar Named Best Circulating Coin at 2025 Mint Directors Conference
- Handbook of Texas Online (TSHA): Idar, Jovita
- National Park Service: Jovita Idár
- Wikipedia: Jovita Idar
- Britannica: Jovita Idár
Last verified: October 2026. Mintage figures are final.