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Maria Tallchief, America’s 1st prima ballerina, featured on US quarters

By Catherine Stoddard
Published  November 3, 2023 1:44pm CDT
U.S.
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FILE - Maria Tallchief quarter. (US Mint)

Maria Tallchief, considered America’s first prima ballerina and a prominent Native American public figure from the Osage Nation, is now on the face of a U.S. quarter. 

As part of the United States Mint 2023 American Women Quarters Program, Tallchief is the last of five women chosen to be featured on quarters in the U.S. for this year. 

The four other women who were already featured on the quarter for 2023 included:  

  • Bessie Coleman
  • Edith Kanaka'ole
  • Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Jovita Idar

Tallchief was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on the Osage reservation and began dance lessons at a very young age, according to the U.S. Mint website. 

At 17, she moved to New York City to pursue her dreams of becoming a ballerina. 

After marrying famed choreographer George Balanchine in 1946, together Tallchief and Balanchine would transform classical ballet across the world. 

Tallchief would go on to be named artistic director at the Chicago City Ballet, founded the ballet school of the Lyric Opera, and was even posthumously honored by being named Woman of the Year by the National Women’s Press Club as well as being inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. 

The Tallchief quarter is the tenth coin in the entirety of the American Women Quarters Program which aims to celebrate "the accomplishments and contributions made by women who have shaped our Nation’s history and helped pave the way for generations that followed," according to the U.S. Mint website. 

The Tallchief quarter rolls and bags can be purchased on the U.S. Mint website, here. 

Price offerings include: 

  • $45.00, a bag of 100 circulating quality quarters minted in Philadelphia
  • $45.00, a bag of 100 circulating quality quarters minted in Denver
  • $40.00, a two-roll set containing a total of 80 circulating quality quarters minted in Philadelphia and Denver
  • $60.00, a three-roll set containing a total of 120 circulating quality quarters minted in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco

For those who want to order the 100-coin bag option, there is a limit of 10 per household while orders for the two-roll and three-roll sets are limited to three per household. 

This story was reported from Los Angeles. 

U.S.