Sale No: 26
Lot No: 200
Symbol:
Cat No: Lafayette $1
Lafayette Dollar (1900) XF cleaned. As part of the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, the United States Congress decided to present an equestrian statue of Major General Lafayette (1757 - 1834) to France, in much the same way (but on a smaller scale) that France had gifted the Statue of Liberty to the US in 1886. To help fund the monument, Congress authorized the minting and sale of a commemorative dollar coin in the same spirit that it authorized the issue of the Columbian half dollars to help defray the costs of the Columbian Exhibition in 1892-93. A separate program encouraged schoolchildren to donate their small change to help erect the statue - a fact noted on the coin's reverse inscription. Although Lafayette Dollars are dated 1900, all were struck in a single day on Dec 14th 1899, the 100th anniversary of George Washington's death. Ultimately, 36,026 were sold by the Lafayette Memorial Commission (for $2 each.) The Lafayette Dollar holds a unique place among US coins in that it is the first commemorative DOLLAR struck by the US, and further, it is the first American coin to depict a President, a practice that arguably would be employed to a fault later in the 20th Century. (Image)
