USA Edith Kanakaʻole 25 Cent Coin - Unique Among All US Quarters

I just got a couple of these in change today and noticed a few very odd things about it:

1. It is the first and only quarter that has 25¢ on it.  Three quarters have 25C. on them, one has no denomination and the rest have “QUARTER DOLLAR” or similar on them.

2. It has incused lettering on it.  As far as I know the only other coins with incused lettering on them are the 2-1/2 and 5 dollar gold Indian Head coins and the F on Buffalo Nickels.

3. The dies aren't going to last very long.  Both of the coins I got today are AU and already some of the incused letters are showing die break damage. 

Different coins:

Curious. Having a closer look at mine now. P or D?

Both P.

Very interesting observations!

 I don't collect US quarters, I have a few favorites, etc. 

But I will look out for these now. 

Not many texts of a language other than English or Latin either, I imagine, on US coinage…

Mr. Midnight

 

Not many texts of a language other than English or Latin either, I imagine, on US coinage…

 

True but so far of the 10 American Women Quarter series released 3 have other languages on them:

N#314287 VOTO PARA LA MUJER Spanish

N#349995 written in Osage orthography (I admit I have no clue)

N#314283  ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ Cherokee syllabary

The other day I got a roll of these from my bank, all from the Philadelphia mint. I kept 8 of  the 40 due to rim dings, bag marks, etc. Of these 8, I found one with the same defect due to a failing die on the KA as you discovered. Good catch. I wonder if the incuse lettering was a lesson learned and forgotten at the U.S. mint and this will be a reminder of that lesson forgotten. Interesting to see if we will see any more incuse lettering coins in the near future.  I would think that the incuse lettering history information you provided would be useful and helpful on the respective coin page.

harryg

 I found one with the same defect due to a failing die on the KA as you discovered. Good catch. I wonder if the incuse lettering was a lesson learned and forgotten at the U.S. mint and this will be a reminder of that lesson forgotten. 

It will be interesting to see how bad the damage gets before they switch dies.  This is on the 2½ dollar page:

This coin and the 5 dollar coin with the same design are the only incused coins in the United States. At the time, people didn't like the design and wrongly believed that they would carry germs.

Just a guess on my part, but maybe they didn't have die problems on those coins because the letters were larger and the material (.900 gold) was much softer than the copper-nickel surface quarters.  Maybe they're learning the lessons now.

I never noticed this before (or if I had, I forgot) but the “America the Beautiful” quarters and some other American Women quarters also have incused lettering so forget my 2. comment.  Guess I'll have to look at my other quarters for similar damage now.

this coin is beautiful!

Found another one:

I have 3 of the Philadelphia mint. Of those, 2 are perfect and the third is showing the fairly severe defect on the 2nd N in Nina but the first O in Otero is still pristine. I find the bullseye effect on that first O on your coins fascinating. Now I want that defect!

I have 6, all P.  Three with defects on the 2nd N in Nina and 3 with no defects.  As far as the first O, sorry to say it must be an artifact of the picture taking technique/lighting.  In real life there's no defect. It looks just like the second O but with magnification it appears the surface shape of the O is more rounded which changes how light is being reflected.

I got excited about it because I could not explain it. Lighting, that is an impressive effect solely due to lighting. Now it makes sense. Perhaps folks can now better understand how difficult it is to assess coins thoroughly by photos alone. 

Just an update. I got 4 more rolls of the Philadelphia mint Edith Kanaka Ole quarters and apparently the defect is on many of the coins, perhaps 25% or so. I won't be keeping them as rarities as it is already very common in circulation.

harryg

Just an update. I got 4 more rolls of the Philadelphia mint Edith Kanaka Ole quarters and apparently the defect is on many of the coins, perhaps 25% or so. I won't be keeping them as rarities as it is already very common in circulation.

I came to the same conclusion and spent the ones I was saving.

rsirian1,

Please stop spending them and send a few to me in the UK.

COINMAN1

rsirian1,

Please stop spending them and send a few to me in the UK.

🤭🤣😂