2023-D Jovita Idar

Denver's contribution to the Jovita Idar issue tallied 188,000,000 coins, narrowly trailing Philadelphia and giving collectors a near-even split between the two business strike facilities. The honoree was a Mexican American journalist born in Laredo in 1885 whose career bridged the early decades of Spanish-language American press and the first organized Mexican American civil rights work in Texas. She wrote for her family's La Cronica, lectured against the segregated treatment of Tejano schoolchildren, and helped convene the First Mexican Congress in 1911. That same year she co-founded the League of Mexican Women, which provided free education to Mexican American children excluded from white public schools. Her most cited act of resistance came in 1914 when she blocked Texas Rangers at the door of the newspaper El Progreso. The Denver mintage entered circulation throughout 2023 with no formal release ceremony, the coins simply moving into Federal Reserve channels.

Phebe Hemphill, working from concept art developed through the Artistic Infusion Program, designed the reverse with Idar's portrait set among folded newspapers, lettered mastheads, and the inscription that acknowledges her belief in education as resistance. The piece carries the standard American Women Quarter specifications: 91.67% copper-nickel clad over a pure copper core, 5.67 grams, 24.3 millimeters in diameter, with a reeded edge of 119 reeds. Diagnostic features for Denver strikes include mintmark placement to the right of the date on the obverse and consistent strike pressure across Idar's hairline, an area prone to softness on coins produced late in a die's working life.

Pocket-change examples carry essentially no premium, but certified MS-67+ and MS-68 examples have drawn modest registry-set bidding from Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) submitters. Denver bank-roll examples occasionally surface in original-mint condition from regional dealers, which provides a reliable acquisition path for set builders pursuing certified gem grades. See the Washington Quarters (American Women) series history.