2003-P 25C Alabama MS67 Certification #08807719, PCGS #14016

Charles Morgan

The 2003-P Alabama State Quarter: Honoring Helen Keller

Alabama became the 22nd state to join the Union when it ratified the United States Constitution on December 14, 1819. Accordingly, the 2003-P Alabama State Quarter (#14016) became the 22nd entry in the 50 State Quarters series. Released on March 17, 2003, it was the second quarter issued during the fifth year of the popular program.

The design, featuring civil rights pioneer Helen Keller and an inscription in Braille, was selected by Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) in January 2001.

Helen Keller: Beyond the Myth

Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880. In late 1881, at just 19 months old, Keller developed a serious illness that left her permanently blind and deaf.

• Education and Breakthrough: Over several years, Keller developed a rudimentary communication method with her family through signs. Her true breakthrough came after receiving formal education, where she learned to use Braille, read sign language with her fingers, and ultimately learned to speak. Keller was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree and became a regular on the lecture circuit.
• Political Activism: As an adult, Keller was deeply committed to social justice through political activism. This part of Keller’s legacy—her identity as a highly intelligent, politically emboldened intellectual—is often overlooked, overshadowed by the myth of the young woman who overcame disability.
• An American Radical: Keller fought for the rights of women, the disabled, and workers. She wrote columns and essays promoting socialist thought, published the book Out of the Dark: Essays, Letters, and Addresses on Physical and Social Vision (1913), and was a friend and voter of Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene Debs. She openly critiqued capitalism and admired the Soviet Union as an initial attempt to establish an organized workers' society.

Given Alabama’s conservative politics, the selection of Helen Keller was arguably an unexpected choice. It is most likely that Keller the myth (the inspirational figure) rather than Keller the flesh-and-blood political intellectual was chosen to grace the reverse.

Numismatic Note: The 2003 Alabama State Quarter is ranked #2 in Ron Guth’s survey of the 100 Greatest Women on Coins (Whitman Publishing, 2015).

Collecting the PCGS-Certified 2003-P Alabama State Quarters

At the height of its popularity, interest in the 50 State Quarters program approached a national mania. While the series remains highly collectible, its long-term price performance is consistent with any mass-produced object hoarded en masse. The upside to this, is that sufficient quantities of coins remain in the hands of non-collectors that hunting for ultra-high end examples is not an expensive proposition, especially for those trying to add a coin or two to the upper end of the PCGS Condition Census. 

As of this writing (December 2025), PCGS has only certified three coins at MS68 and the majority of coins in our holders grade MS66 or below. 

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