2022-D Wilma Mankiller

The Denver strike of the Wilma Mankiller quarter carries a mintage of 296,800,000 pieces, the second-largest production figure for any coin in the 2022 American Women Quarters lineup. Mankiller's tenure as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 through 1995 marked the first time a woman held that office in the tribe's modern history, and her work on the Bell water project, community clinics, and tribal sovereignty programs drew national attention long before her 1998 Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Denver Mint produced this issue alongside its Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna May Wong releases, and the facility's high-tonnage output kept circulating supplies steady across the western and Rocky Mountain Federal Reserve districts through the latter half of the year.

The reverse composition by Benjamin Sowards, an Artistic Infusion Program artist, places Mankiller with arms folded and hair swept by the wind, accompanied by the inscription Cherokee Nation rendered in syllabary, a seven-pointed star drawn from the Great Seal of the Cherokee Nation, and a feather. Sculpting work fell to medallic artist Phebe Hemphill. The obverse retains Laura Gardin Fraser's 1932 Washington portrait, paired across the program with each new reverse. Clad construction follows the long-standing quarter standard at 91.67 percent copper and 8.33 percent nickel cladding over a pure copper core, weighing 5.67 grams with a 24.3 millimeter diameter and reeded edge. Denver coins carry the D mintmark to the right of Washington's queue, in the lower-right field of the obverse.

Authenticators look at Denver strikes for the heavier die pressure typical of the facility, which generally produces sharper feather and hair detail than equivalent Philadelphia examples but with a corresponding increase in die-state variation late in production runs. Mint State coins graded MS66 and finer through Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) trade at small premiums, with population reports favoring the higher tiers among original-roll submissions. See the Washington Quarters (American Women) series history.