Maria Tallchief Quarter: Value, Mintage and Errors
The 2023 Maria Tallchief quarter is worth 25 cents in circulated condition. 370,600,000 were struck, 185,800,000 at Philadelphia and 184,800,000 at Denver. Released on 23 October 2023, it was the fifth coin of 2023 and the tenth in the program. Alongside her English name, the reverse carries her Osage name, which the Mint translates as "Two Standards," written in Osage orthography.
What this coin looks like
The reverse depicts Maria Tallchief spotlit in a balletic pose, together with her Osage name written in Osage orthography. The Mint says the name, chosen by her grandmother, translates to "Two Standards" and reflects her life in two worlds: as an accomplished dance professional and as a member of the Osage Nation.
The design is by Artistic Infusion Program designer Ben Sowards, and it was sculpted by U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Joseph Menna. In the Mint's release, Sowards said: "Although her artistry, precision, and technical skill made her one of the most renowned ballerinas of her time, it is Maria Tallchief's courage, perseverance, and strength of character that I hope are evident in the design." The Mint began shipping the quarter on 23 October 2023, the last of the five 2023 coins.
The reverse inscriptions read:
- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
- E PLURIBUS UNUM
- QUARTER DOLLAR
- MARIA TALLCHIEF
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 Maria Tallchief 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) | 185,800,000 |
|---|---|
| Denver (D) | 184,800,000 |
| Total | 370,600,000 |
| Rank in the series | 10 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 Maria Tallchief 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 Maria Tallchief?
Maria Tallchief was born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief on 24 January 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma, and was known to family and friends as Betty Marie. Her father, Alexander Joseph Tall Chief, was a member of the Osage Nation; her mother, Ruth Porter, was of Scottish and Irish descent. Her sister Marjorie also became a ballerina.
In 1933 the family moved to Los Angeles and then to Beverly Hills. She studied ballet with Ernest Belcher and, from the age of 12, with Bronislava Nijinska, and she graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1942.
That year, at 17, she went to New York and joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as an apprentice. In 1944 she had a solo in Song of Norway, the production for which the company had hired George Balanchine, and she was promoted to soloist. She married Balanchine on 16 August 1946. In 1947 she joined him in Paris, where he was guest choreographer at the Paris Opera Ballet, and she became the first American to dance with that company. The marriage was later annulled.
At New York City Ballet she became the company's first prima ballerina. She created the title role in Balanchine's The Firebird in 1949, the part that made her name, and in 1954 she danced the Sugar Plum Fairy in his The Nutcracker. Her other Balanchine roles included the Swan Queen in Swan Lake and Eurydice in Orpheus. She left the company in February 1960 and joined American Ballet Theatre, and on its tour of Russia that summer she became the first American dancer to perform at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
Oklahoma declared 29 June 1953 Maria Tallchief Day, and the Osage Tribal Council gave her the name Wa-Xthe-Thoṉba, which the Mint translates as "Two Standards." In June 1956 she married Henry D. "Buzz" Paschen Jr., a Chicago businessman; their daughter, the poet Elise Paschen, was born in 1959. She gave her last performances in 1966 and then retired from the stage.
In Chicago she was director of ballet for the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 1973 to 1979 and founded its ballet school in 1974. With Marjorie she co-founded the Chicago City Ballet, which they directed together until it closed in 1987. She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1996 and the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and, in 2018, the National Native American Hall of Fame. She is one of five Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma honored by the Five Moons bronze statues at the Tulsa Historical Society, and one of five women in the "Flight of Spirit" mural in the Oklahoma State Capitol. She died in Chicago on 11 April 2013, at 88.
She was selected as, in the Mint's words, America's first prima ballerina, a Native American dancer who broke barriers on and off the stage.
The design
| Reverse designer | Ben Sowards, U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program |
|---|---|
| Reverse sculptor | Joseph Menna, U.S. Mint medallic artist |
| Obverse | Laura Gardin Fraser, designed and sculpted, 1931 |
| Released | 23 October 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 Maria Tallchief 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 Maria Tallchief quarters were made?
- 370,600,000 in total: 185,800,000 at Philadelphia and 184,800,000 at Denver.
- When was the Maria Tallchief quarter released?
- It entered circulation on 23 October 2023.
- Who designed the Maria Tallchief quarter?
- The reverse was designed by Ben Sowards of the Mint's Artistic Infusion Program and sculpted by U.S. Mint medallic artist Joseph Menna. The obverse, shared by all 20 coins, is by Laura Gardin Fraser.
- What is the Osage writing on the Maria Tallchief quarter?
- It is her Osage name, Wa-Xthe-Thoṉba, written in Osage orthography. The U.S. Mint says it was chosen by her grandmother and translates to "Two Standards," reflecting her life as a dancer and as a member of the Osage Nation.
- What is on the back of the Maria Tallchief quarter?
- Maria Tallchief spotlit in a balletic pose with her Osage name, designed by Ben Sowards and sculpted by U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Joseph Menna.
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 Maria Tallchief on October 23
- 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: Historic Change: Celebrating Prima Ballerina Maria Tallchief
- Wikipedia: Maria Tallchief
- Smithsonian Magazine: Osage Ballerina Maria Tallchief Featured on the U.S. Quarter
Last verified: October 2026. Mintage figures are final.