Coin honoring New Mexico native has hidden value -- but don't expect a rush

Aug. 17—Floyd Morelos placed his order for a thousand of the commemorative quarters shortly after noon Tuesday.

"We know how important these are to everyone," he said. "I think more people want these quarters because of the New Mexico connection."

Morelos, senior vice president of marketing for Century Bank, was expecting a run on the new U.S. Mint commemorative quarter honoring the late New Mexico suffragist, school superintendent and educator Nina Otero-Warren.

But some experts predicted the coin, while historically significant to New Mexicans, won't exactly ... well, break any banks.

The mint created the coin, issued Tuesday, as part of its American Women Quarters Program, a four-year series commemorating the lives and achievements of women who helped craft American history.

The other four women featured in the program are writer and activist Maya Angelou; astronaut and educator Sally Ride; Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to be elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation; and Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood.

Your favorite coin dealer won't necessarily have a batch of the Otero coins to sell, at least not initially. Ryan Rael, owner of Silver and Gold Bullion Now in Santa Fe, said so far he hasn't encountered many people expressing interest.

He said it's most likely you will first notice one when a cashier gives you change.

As for the potential future value of such commemorative coins, Rael said over time the price will go up — but not by much.

Even if one of the coins in mint condition goes up in value from 25 cents to $25 over a quarter-century — as has happened with other commemorative coins in the past — the joy of collecting is not about the monetary benefit involved, he said.

All five coins, Rael said, hold "an intrinsic" collecting value because they are coins that "have a significance in our age and in our time that validate something that is precious" in women's contribution to the country's history.

Mike Nottelmann, a numismatist, or coin expert, with Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., an antique coin establishment in Chicago, said by phone Tuesday this round of commemorative coins may "never become valuable" in the monetary sense.

"The quarter is not going to be worth $25 in 25 years," he said, adding "a lot of people use it as an educational tool. It will be a wonderful teaching tool until the end of time."

But these coins have extra value when it comes to honoring women, he said. That's because they employ a design made for a bust of George Washington — which is on the flip side of the coin — created by the late sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser in the 1930s.

According to an article on the U.S. Mint's website, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts wrote to then-Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon with a recommendation to adopt Fraser's design as "the most authentic likeness of Washington. Such was the skill of the artist in making this life-mask that it embodies those high qualities of the man's character which has given him a place among the great of the world ... simplicity, directness, and nobility characterize it."

Nottelmann said the U.S. Mint chose not to use Fraser's design at that time. But her image was revived for use with a 1999 George Washington commemorative gold $5 coin.

"What is really significant about the Women Quarters ... is the fact that not only are they celebrating women ... but they are using a woman's design for Washington," Nottelmann said.

Still, the question remains: When might we see one of these Nina Otero quarters?

Nottelmann said the way the U.S. Mint distributes such commemorative quarters is random. He just recently came across, for the first time, a Wilma Mankiller quarter, which was issued in early June, at a local gas station.

He warned commemorative coins can sell out fast once people learn where to get them.

"They always do," he said.

Born in Los Lunas, Otero came from a prominent, well-to-do family and attended St. Vincent's Academy in Albuquerque and Maryville College of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis.

She served as the Santa Fe County superintendent of schools from 1917 to 1929 during a period when superintendents were voted into the position rather than hired by school boards. Otero also worked as a school inspector for the state's Indian services, was chairwoman for the state Board of Health and director of the New Mexico Literacy Program for the Works Progress Administration.

She also was the Republican Party's nominee in a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922.

Otero's full name was Maria Adelina Isabel Emilia Otero-Warren, though she was known as Nina. She was briefly married to U.S. Army Lt. Rawson Warren.

In 2013, the Santa Fe Board of Education voted to name its new K-8 school near Capital High School after Otero. Former board member Linda Trujillo — who now heads the New Mexico Licensing and Regulation Department — helped lead that initiative.

Trujillo said she believes the coin will lead more people to want to learn about Otero. "It's a real plus for New Mexico," she said, adding she plans to order a number of $10 rolls of the commemorative quarter to give out to her staff members.

Trish Gharrity, principal of Nina Otero Community School in Santa Fe, said the school also will be ordering some of the Nina Otero quarters — hopefully in time for Otero's birthday in October.

Last spring, when the school held an event honoring Otero's life, students were asked to make a coin featuring the likeness of a hero or heroine. Some of the students chose Otero, beating the U.S. Mint's issuance of the coin by some months.

"I feel like she is somebody our kids — especially the girls — can look up to," Gharrity said.