American Women Quarters Series
Ida B. Wells Quarter
History, design, and collector guide
Ida B. Wells overview
Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, educator, and civil rights leader who spent decades documenting lynching in the United States through detailed, statistics driven reporting at a time when few publications would cover the subject honestly. She co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909.
Released February 4, 2025, her quarter opened the American Women Quarters Program’s fourth and final year, honoring a career built on confronting racial violence with careful documentation and public pressure.
Design and specifications
The reverse lists several of Wells’s roles at the bottom of the coin, including Journalist and Suffragist, alongside her portrait, summarizing a career that spanned multiple forms of activism.
- Reverse sculptor: Phebe Hemphill
- Reverse designer (Artistic Infusion Program): Elana Hagler
- Release date: February 4, 2025
- Composition (standard clad): 91.67% copper, 8.33% nickel
- Composition (silver proof): 99.9% silver
- Diameter: 24.26 mm, edge: 119 reeds
- Obverse: George Washington, designed by Laura Gardin Fraser
Mintage figures
Mintage by mint, all figures from official U.S. Mint production reports.
- Philadelphia (no mintmark): 166,200,000
- Denver (D): 143,200,000
- San Francisco proof (S): 391,280
- Total mintage: 309,791,280
At about 309.8 million coins, the Wells quarter had a noticeably lower mintage than most of the 2022 and 2023 releases, part of a steady decline that continued through the rest of 2025.
Why Ida B. Wells was chosen
Wells was chosen for pioneering investigative journalism on lynching, publishing detailed statistical reports that challenged the false justifications commonly used to defend the practice, work that put her life at risk and forced her to leave Memphis for her own safety.
She was also a committed suffragist, marching in the 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. despite attempts by organizers to have her march in a segregated section, and she went on to co-found the NAACP in 1909.
Collecting the Ida B. Wells quarter
Circulated Wells quarters are worth face value, with about 309.8 million struck.
The silver proof set remains the main way to get a premium version, since the standard mintage, while lower than earlier years, is still large enough to keep circulated coins common.
5 fun facts about the Ida B. Wells quarter
- Ida B. Wells co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
- Her investigative reporting on lynching relied on detailed statistics at a time when most publications avoided the subject.
- She marched in the 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. and refused to be segregated to the back of the march.
- Her quarter opened the American Women Quarters Program’s fourth and final year, released February 4, 2025.
- The coin’s reverse lists several of her roles, including journalist and suffragist, alongside her portrait.
5 common FAQs about the Ida B. Wells quarter
- Is an Ida B. Wells quarter worth anything?
Circulated coins are worth face value. About 309.8 million were struck. - Why was Ida B. Wells chosen for a quarter?
She was honored for pioneering investigative journalism on lynching and for co-founding the NAACP. - What organization did Ida B. Wells help found?
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in 1909. - What is shown on the Ida B. Wells quarter?
Her portrait alongside a list of her roles, including journalist and suffragist. - When was the Ida B. Wells quarter released?
It entered circulation on February 4, 2025, opening the program’s fourth and final year.
3 quiz questions about the Ida B. Wells quarter
- What organization did Ida B. Wells co-found in 1909?
A) The NAACP
B) The National Urban League
C) The SCLC
D) The Niagara Movement - What was Ida B. Wells’s primary form of activism?
A) Investigative journalism
B) Labor organizing
C) Medicine
D) Elected office - What did Wells refuse to do at the 1913 suffrage parade?
A) March at all
B) March in a segregated section
C) Speak publicly
D) Wear a sash
Ida B. Wells Quarter, Takeaway
The Ida B. Wells quarter, released in February 2025, opened the program’s final year and honors a journalist whose statistical reporting on lynching helped force national attention to racial violence. With about 309.8 million struck, circulated coins are worth face value.