The Lafayette dollar was a silver coin issued as part of the United States' participation in the
Paris World's Fair of 1900. Depicting
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemasonry, freemason and military officer who fought in the Ameri ...
with
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
, and designed by Chief Engraver
Charles E. Barber
Charles Edward Barber (November 16, 1840 – February 18, 1917) was an American coin engraver who served as the sixth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. He had a long and fruitful career in coinage, desig ...
, it was the only
U.S. silver dollar commemorative prior to 1983, and the first
U.S. coin to depict American citizens.
Beginning in 1898, prominent Americans sought to erect in Paris a monument to Lafayette, a Frenchman who fought in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. Among these supporters was Chicago businessman
Ferdinand Peck
Ferdinand Wythe Peck (1848-1924) was a wealthy Chicago, Illinois, businessman and philanthropist, best known for financing Chicago's Auditorium Building.
He was the youngest son of Mary Kent Peck and Phillip F.W. Peck. The family moved from Rho ...
, whom President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
chose as commissioner-general to the exposition. Peck made the monument proposal a part of the American plans for Paris, and appointed the Lafayette Memorial Commission to raise funds for it. A part of this fundraising was the one-dollar commemorative coin, approved by Congress on March 3, 1899.
Conjoined busts of Washington and Lafayette appear on the
obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...
. Barber stated that the bases for his work were a sculpture of Washington by
Jean-Antoine Houdon
Jean-Antoine Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor.
Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects included De ...
, and an 1824 medal of Lafayette by François-Augustin Caunois. For the reverse, he used an early sketch of the planned monument, designed by
Paul Wayland Bartlett
Paul Wayland Bartlett (January 24, 1865 – September 20, 1925) was an American sculptor working in the Beaux-Arts tradition of heroic realism.
Life
Bartlett was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Truman Howe Bartlett, an art critic a ...
, whose last name appears on the base of the statue on the reverse. The coins did not sell out, and 14,000 were later melted by the
United States Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
. The Lafayette dollar is valued from several hundred dollars to tens of thousands, depending on condition.
Background
Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette was born on September 6, 1757 to
a noble French family. When the boy was less than two years old, his father was killed at the
Battle of Minden
The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...
, making the toddler a wealthy nobleman. The young
marquis
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
married in 1774.
In 1775, while on military duty in
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
, Lafayette received word of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
in the
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
. The young officer quickly came to believe that the American cause was noble. On learning that the
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
lacked funds, Lafayette hired a ship at his own expense and in 1777 sailed for America, though he initially received a cold reception from the Congress. So many foreign officers had sought to be a part of the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
that its commanding general,
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
, asked that no more be engaged. Lafayette's application, which sought no pay, met with eventual success. Congress had received a letter from the American envoy to France,
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, stating that Lafayette's family was wealthy and influential. Franklin urged Congress to accommodate Lafayette, and also keep him safe and out of the action lest his death harm the American cause.
Congress dutifully voted in July 1777 to commission Lafayette as a major general, and sent him to meet Washington. The two men formed a very close relationship despite a quarter-century difference in age. Franklin's wish to keep Lafayette safe was frustrated by the young man's desire to be where battles raged, and he was wounded at the
Battle of Brandywine
The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Ame ...
in September 1777. France soon entered the war on the American side, and was instrumental in the victory. Lafayette helped lead the decisive
Yorktown campaign
The Yorktown campaign, also known as the Virginia campaign, was a series of military maneuvers and battles during the American Revolutionary War that culminated in the siege of Yorktown in October 1781. The result of the campaign was the surren ...
, leading to
the surrender of
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Lord Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...
alongside his entire army, which sealed the fate of the war in favor of the Americans.
Lafayette returned to France after 1781, a national hero in both countries. He returned to the United States in 1784, his last visit for 40 years. In France, he involved himself in politics, favoring a constitutional monarchy. He was given office and commands after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, but was captured by the Austrians in 1792, remaining in captivity for five years. After
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
arranged his release, Lafayette remained on his estates and away from politics during the Emperor's rule. After the
restoration of the monarchy in 1815, he again engaged himself in politics, sitting in the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
.
In 1824, the American Congress voted unanimously to have President
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
invite Lafayette to return as the guest of the nation. The marquis and his son,
George Washington Lafayette, arrived in New York City to mammoth celebrations. Over the next year and a half,
Lafayette visited all 24 states. He was given innumerable honors and gifts, including land in Florida. The marquis returned to France in 1825, and died in 1834. One of only eight people to be made an
honorary citizen of the United States
A person of exceptional merit, a non-United States citizen, may be declared an honorary citizen of the United States by an Act of Congress or by a proclamation issued by the president of the United States, pursuant to authorization granted by Cong ...
, according to Arnie Slabaugh in his book on commemorative coins, "Lafayette became so popular and respected in both countries that the friendship he helped cement between the two nations has extended to this day".
Inception
In March 1898, a resolution was introduced in Congress for a commission to erect a monument to Lafayette in Paris on behalf of the United States. The bill passed the Senate, and hearings were held before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Chicago businessman and philanthropist
Ferdinand Peck
Ferdinand Wythe Peck (1848-1924) was a wealthy Chicago, Illinois, businessman and philanthropist, best known for financing Chicago's Auditorium Building.
He was the youngest son of Mary Kent Peck and Phillip F.W. Peck. The family moved from Rho ...
testified in support of the bill, which though favored by the committee was not considered by the House due to higher priorities during the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
.
Later in 1898, President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
appointed Peck as United States Commissioner-General to the 1900 ''
Exposition Universelle'', a
World's Fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
to be held in Paris, France. Peck revived the Lafayette proposal as part of the American participation in the fair, and created a Lafayette Memorial Commission to supervise the monument project. The commission was to ensure that the monument was unveiled on July 4, 1900—both
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
and also United States Day at the exposition. On September 1, 1898, Peck appointed a number of prominent Americans to the commission, including Iowa Senator
William B. Allison
William Boyd Allison (March 2, 1829 – August 4, 1908) was an American politician. An early leader of the Iowa Republican Party, he represented northeastern Iowa in the United States House of Representatives before representing his state in th ...
, Secretary of State
William R. Day, Archbishop
John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
, and Reverend
Edward Everett Hale
Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as "The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union dur ...
. The commission's officers included the treasurer,
Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to charter, bank regulation in the United States ...
(and future
Vice President of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
)
Charles G. Dawes
Charles Gates Dawes (August 27, 1865 – April 23, 1951) was an American banker, general, diplomat, composer, and Republican politician who was the 30th vice president of the United States from 1925 to 1929 under Calvin Coolidge. He was a co-reci ...
, and the secretary, Robert J. Thompson.
Fundraising to build the Lafayette monument was a major component of the commission's work, and it sought to involve American schools and schoolchildren in the project. October 19, 1898—the 117th anniversary of Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown—was proclaimed the first "Lafayette Day" by 42 governors or commissioners of education of the states or territories. Although President McKinley did not issue a similar proclamation, he did praise the plan in a letter printed in the press. Special ceremonies in honor of Lafayette (along with appropriate lesson plans) were observed in many schools, and pupils were called upon to donate
cents in honor of the French patriot. A total of $45,858.30 was obtained from the events at the schools; those institutions were furnished, on the next Lafayette Day (intended to be annual), with ornate receipts, signed by Dawes and meant as momentos to descend to posterity.
Another proposed means of paying for the statue was a commemorative coin. In early 1899, the commission sought enactment of legislation granting it an appropriation of $50,000 in the form of 100,000 commemorative half dollars, that could be sold to the public at a premium. Such a method had helped to finance (though with mixed success) the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
in Chicago. Instead, Congress passed and McKinley signed on March 3, 1899, a civil appropriations bill that included provision for 50,000 silver one-dollar pieces to be granted to the commission. The bullion for the striking was to be purchased on the open market and was not to come from the Mint's remaining stocks acquired pursuant to the repealed
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law
enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...
, though the Mint would not exhaust its inventory from that legislation until 1904. Congress placed a ceiling on the cost of the silver at $25,000. In the event, the
United States Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
bought 38,675.875 troy ounces of silver for $23,032.80. The designs were to be selected by the
Mint Director, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.
Preparation
![Roberts medal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Roberts_medal.png)
Once the bill passed, Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver
Charles E. Barber
Charles Edward Barber (November 16, 1840 – February 18, 1917) was an American coin engraver who served as the sixth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. He had a long and fruitful career in coinage, desig ...
took personal charge of the project, seeking to avoid the delays and disputes that had marked the two previous commemoratives, the
Columbian half dollar
The Columbian half dollar is a coin issued by the Bureau of the Mint in 1892 and 1893. The first traditional United States commemorative coin, it was issued both to raise funds for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and to mark the quadricent ...
and the
Isabella quarter
The Isabella quarter or Columbian Exposition quarter was a United States commemorative coin struck in 1893. Congress authorized the piece at the request of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition. The quarter depicts the ...
. On March 24, 1899, Mint Director
George E. Roberts
George Evan Roberts (August 19, 1857June 6, 1948) was Director of the United States Mint from 1898 to 1907, and again from 1910 to 1914.
Biography
George E. Roberts was born in Colesburg, Iowa, on August 19, 1857, the son of David and Mary (Harv ...
wrote in a letter that the Lafayette Memorial Commission was contemplating having, on one side of the coin, a representation of the new monument. Barber responded the following day to Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Henry Boyer, referencing that letter and asking for a sketch of the monument.
By April 12, 1899, the chief engraver had obtained from commission secretary Thompson a preliminary sketch of the monument—an equestrian statue by
Paul Bartlett. Barber sketched other designs, including one with Lafayette's 1784 prayer for the prosperity of the United States. He also created one showing a standing figure of Lafayette, based on a statement by Thompson that they might omit the horse. Barber's concepts showing an equestrian statue for one side, and
jugate A jugate consists of two portraits side by side to suggest, to the viewer, the closeness of each to the other. The word comes from the Latin, ''jugatus'', meaning joined. On coins, it is commonly used for married couples, brothers or a father and so ...
heads of Lafayette and Washington for the other, would form the basis for the eventual coin. Roberts quickly approved Barber's sketch of the two heads, and without consulting the commission leaked the information to the ''American Journal of Numismatics'', which printed it in its April 1899 issue.
On May 23, 1899, Barber wrote to Roberts that he planned to base the Washington bust (on the
obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...
) on the well-known 1785 bust of the first president by
Jean-Antoine Houdon
Jean-Antoine Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor.
Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects included De ...
, and upon an early medallic use of the Houdon bust, the 1786 "Washington Before Boston" medal by
Pierre-Simon-Benjamin Duvivier
Pierre-Simon-Benjamin Duvivier (3 November 1730 – 10 July 1819) was a French engraver of coins and medals.
Early years
Pierre-Simon-Benjamin Duvivier was born in Paris on 3 November 1730. He was son of the well-known medallist Jean Duvivier ...
. The Lafayette bust (also on the obverse) was to be based on an 1824 medal of Lafayette by François-Augustin Caunois.
![Lafayette Medal (Bronze, 58 mm) (obv)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Lafayette_Medal_%28Bronze%2C_58_mm%29_%28obv%29.jpg)
Peck and other commission members were not satisfied with the design proposals, and suggested some of their own. Barber denigrated these in a letter to Roberts on June 8. Peck had proposed that only the faces of Washington and Lafayette be shown, with no depiction of the rest of the head. Barber stated, "I am of the opinion that the heads of Washington and Lafayette should be treated from the sculptor's standpoint, and every effort be made to represent them with a grandeur and dignity commensurate with the position they fill in the Nation's history, which certainly could not be done if they are to be shown peeping out of a half moon." At the instructions of Roberts, Barber went to New York and met with Peck over two days on June 14 and 15. Afterwards, Barber reported to the Mint Director, "I think we will hear no more of the Lafayette prayer" and that Peck now appreciated that the space available for a design, even on a silver dollar (the largest US coin) was limited, "and as it is the desire of the Committee
ommissionto have the monument displayed, the prayer will have to find some other place". Although Barber indicated that the decision of the commission to represent the statue without its pedestal represented progress toward the point where he might engrave dies, "I learned in New York that the work of the sculptor must be submitted to a committee in Paris who will have entire charge of the monument, and the sculptor's work has to be changed in any and every detail until it meets the approval of this Committee of Frenchmen ... to me it looks as if it might be sometime in 1900."
On June 20, 1899, Barber submitted the final designs for the coin. They were approved by Director Roberts on July 1. This did not put an end to the wrangles over what should be on the coin: the commission wished to have the coins dated 1900, but have them to sell as early as possible in 1899. Secretary of the Treasury
Lyman Gage insisted on the provision of the
Coinage Act of 1873
The Coinage Act of 1873 or Mint Act of 1873, was a general revision of laws relating to the Mint of the United States. By ending the right of holders of silver bullion to have it coined into standard silver dollars, while allowing holders of go ...
that required the date of production to appear on the coins. In the end, the matter was compromised: the pieces were struck in December 1899, not distributed until the following month, and the inscription "Paris 1900" appears on the coins.
Design
![Surrender At Yorktown Centennial medal (1881) (obv)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Surrender_At_Yorktown_Centennial_medal_%281881%29_%28obv%29.jpg)
The obverse of the Lafayette dollar features jugate, or conjoined, heads of Washington and Lafayette. Slabaugh noted Barber's account that the busts were based on the sculpture by Houdon and the medal by Caunois, but, "possibly these did have some effect on the design but it has always been my belief that the immediate source or idea for the design was the Yorktown Centennial medal of 1881." Swiatek and Breen contended that although the ultimate ancestor of Barber's depiction of Washington was the Houdon bust, the source of the Lafayette bust and the format of the obverse "was beyond doubt
Peter L. Krider's Yorktown Centennial Medal (1881)". Krider, a Philadelphia engraver not employed by the Mint, issued a number of tokens and medals in the 1870s and 1880s. "United States of America" and "Lafayette Dollar" appear at the top and bottom of the obverse of the coin.
The reverse is based on an early sketch of the statue of Lafayette by Bartlett. It depicts a mounted statue of Lafayette, riding left. Barber's monogram does not appear on the coin, but the name "Bartlett" is inscribed on the base of the statue. Also on the base, and extending below it, is a palm branch. The reverse inscription, "Erected by the youth of the United States in honor of Gen Lafayette/Paris 1900" is a tribute to the school fundraising efforts that took place in 1898. Swiatek and Breen pointed out that even if one grants that the 1900 date was intended to be that of the exposition and the erection of the statue, the coins would still violate the 1873 act, that required the date of mintage to appear on the coins, and thus "the Lafayette dollars are technically undated and therefore illegal!"
On the reverse, Lafayette holds a sword, extended upwards. Bartlett described the version of the statue that Barber worked from: "Lafayette is represented in the statue as a fact and a symbol, offering his sword and services to the American colonists in the cause of liberty. He appears as the emblem of the aristocratic and enthusiastic sympathy shown by France to our forefathers." Swiatek and Breen noted, "We may take Lafayette's pose on the statue, as depicted on the coin, to represent him in triumphal procession rather than charging against the enemy—note his sheathed sword, like a Highland pipe major's baton, serving as a standard rather than brandished unsheathed as a weapon."
Barber's design for the Lafayette dollar has often been criticized. Swiatek and Breen complained about the "lifeless head of the President
ashington
Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...
.
Q. David Bowers stated that "the shallow relief of Barber's work is but a travesty of Krider's extremely detailed high-relief artistry". According to
, "When one compares Barber's portraits to those by Du Vivier and Caunois, it is clear why
culptor and Barber enemy Saint-Gaudens used to refer contemptuously to the 'commercial medalists of the Mint'. The difference here is not merely in the relief, but in elementary modeling skill." Art historian
Cornelius Vermeule
Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III (August 10, 1925 – November 27, 2008) was an American scholar of ancient art and curator of classical art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1957 to 1996. He was also well known as a numismatist. He als ...
stated that, "the Lafayette dollar lacks the quaint, dated appeal of the
Isabella quarter
The Isabella quarter or Columbian Exposition quarter was a United States commemorative coin struck in 1893. Congress authorized the piece at the request of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition. The quarter depicts the ...
or the amusing originality of the Columbian half-dollar. Despite the necessity for low relief the jugate busts are too linear. The reverse suffers from too much lettering of uniform size. The words 'Paris 1900' might have been enough; at most, the addition of 'From the Youth of the United States' would have conveyed the matter."
Production and aftermath
All Lafayette dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint on December 14, 1899, the centennial of the death of George Washington. The Philadelphia ''
Public Ledger'' reported,
Once the ceremony at the Philadelphia Mint had concluded, striking of the Lafayette dollar continued on an older coinage press capable of minting eighty pieces per minute, or 4,800 per hour. A total of 50,026 pieces were struck, including 26 coins laid aside for inspection and testing at the 1900 meeting of the
United States Assay Commission
The United States Assay Commission was an agency of the United States government from 1792 to 1980. Its function was to supervise the annual testing of the gold, silver, and (in its final years) base metal coins produced by the United States Mint ...
.
![Lafayette dollar we are here](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Lafayette_dollar_we_are_here.jpg)
The first
Columbian half dollar
The Columbian half dollar is a coin issued by the Bureau of the Mint in 1892 and 1893. The first traditional United States commemorative coin, it was issued both to raise funds for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and to mark the quadricent ...
had been sold for $10,000. An offer of $5,000 was made but declined for the first Lafayette dollar to be struck, which was designated for presentation to the French president. Thompson, designated a special commissioner of the United States for the purpose, took the casket to France aboard the S.S. ''La Champagne''. The ceremony was originally scheduled for February 22, 1900 (
Washington's Birthday
Presidents' Day, also called Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879 ...
), but was not held until March 3, when Thompson presented the casket and coin to French President
Émile Loubet
Émile François Loubet (; 30 December 183820 December 1929) was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906.
Trained in law, he became mayor of Montélimar, where he was note ...
. The two objects are now in
the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
.
The commission was plagued by a number of financial difficulties. In January 1900, sculptor
Charles Henry Niehaus
Charles Henry Niehaus (January 24, 1855 — June 19, 1935), was an American sculptor.
Education
Niehaus was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German parents. He began working as a marble and wood carver, and then gained entrance to the McMicken ...
questioned why $150,000 was the fundraising target of the commission, as no equestrian statue had ever cost more than half that.
The commission was sued by architect
Henry Hornbostel
Henry Hornbostel (August 15, 1867 – December 13, 1961) was an American architect and educator. Hornbostel designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States. Twenty-two of his designs are listed on the National Regis ...
, demanding fees for designing a pedestal for Bartlett's statue. The out-of-court settlement reimbursed him for his expenses.
![Statue of Lafayette, Paris 6 March 2016 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Statue_of_Lafayette%2C_Paris_6_March_2016_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The commission was tardy in giving the final order for the statue to Bartlett, so late that it was impossible to have the final bronze piece ready in time; a one-third model was only completed in May. According to Q. David Bowers, "the French are at home in such problems." The commission was able to have a full-sized plaster model ready by July 4 by sawing the scale model in pieces and distributing them to various workshops, that made enlargements in plaster. Brought together, the plaster pieces fitted perfectly. This assembly was ceremoniously dedicated in the
Place du Carrousel
The Place du Carrousel () is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a space occupied, prior to 1883, by the Tuileries Palace. Sitting directly between the museum and the T ...
on July 4, 1900. Afterwards, Bartlett was dissatisfied with certain aspects of the design, and changed them. His bronze statue erected there in 1908 differs considerably from the statue depicted on the coin. Changes made included the elimination of Lafayette's three-cornered hat, and the position of the raised arm and sword. The statue stood there for almost eighty years, but was displaced in the 1980s during the excavations for
I. M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre. It now stands on
Cours-la-Reine
The Cours-la-Reine, also spelled Cours la Reine (without hyphens), is a public park and garden promenade located along the River Seine, between the Place de la Concorde and the Place du Canada, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondisseme ...
in Paris, along the
River Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
.
Once the coins were minted, the commission began sales at $2 each. After February 1900, when the commission moved its offices from Chicago to Paris, sales were handled by the American Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago. Only small numbers were sold to coin collectors. Sales, conducted through the bank, continued for several years. Prices initially dropped on the secondary market—the pieces could be purchased for $1.10 in 1903—and thousands may have been released into circulation, or were spent by purchasers in hard times. By 1920, the market price passed the original issue price, and thereafter prices rose steadily, reaching $3.50 by 1930, $5 at the height of the commemorative coin boom in July 1936, $13 by 1950, $55 by 1960, and $650 by 1975.
Fourteen thousand pieces were returned to the Treasury, and were held in $1,000 sacks. This followed poor sales of the new coin in Paris—only 1,800 sold there; some 10,000 were returned to the United States. They were held for many years. In 1945, Omaha coin dealer Aubrey Beebe learned about the coins from government records and enquired, only to be told that the coins had been recently melted.
The Lafayette dollar is the first American coin to depict a US citizen. After the Lafayette piece, the Mint did not again strike a commemorative silver dollar until the 1983-S
Los Angeles Olympics dollar.
Collecting
In 1925, numismatist George H. Clapp discovered a Lafayette dollar that slightly differed from published descriptions. He researched the matter further over the following decade, and discovered two additional
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
. These exist because multiple dies, for both obverse and reverse, were used in striking the Lafayette piece, and the dies were not identical. Swiatek, writing in 2012, noted a fifth die combination he had discovered, and examined images of hundreds of Lafayette dollars he owned or that were on the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. He reported that two varieties combined for more than 90% of the specimens, with the remaining ones much rarer. Because of this, he speculated that the dollars were struck on at least two machines, not one as usually reported, with the rarer varieties the result of replacement dies being inserted as the original ones wore out. The differences are minor (for example, whether the M in "America" is raised or even with the A that precedes it on the obverse, and details of the palm branch on the reverse) and the coin is rarely collected by die type, meaning that little premium value attaches to the less common varieties.
R.S. Yeoman
Richard Sperry Yeoman (born Richard S. Yeo; August 15, 1904 – November 9, 1988) was an American commercial artist and coin collector who marketed coin display boards for Whitman Publishing. Hired by that company in 1932, he redesigned the boar ...
's deluxe edition of ''
A Guide Book of United States Coins
''A Guide Book of United States Coins (The Official Red Book)'', first compiled by R. S. Yeoman in 1946, is a price guide for coin collectors of coins of the United States dollar, commonly known as the Red Book.
Along with its sister publicatio ...
'' issued in 2018 lists the Lafayette dollar at $485 in
Almost Uncirculated (AU-50) ranging upwards to $15,000 in near-pristine MS-66. One in MS-67 condition sold in 2015 for $73,438. Most Lafayette dollars display contact marks from other coins as the pieces were mechanically ejected from the press into a hopper and no attempt was made to preserve their appearance for collectors. Although whether the specimen is well-struck or not rarely affects value, clearly struck specimens will show the engraving line separating Lafayette's boot from the rest of his uniform, and details of the lower part of his clothing will also be distinct. The highest points on the coin, at which wear should be most apparent, are Washington's cheekbone on the obverse and the face of Lafayette on the reverse.
The coin has been counterfeited from time to time. Various techniques have also been used to make genuine specimens shinier to deceive collectors, including polishing, a process that damages their surfaces and patina.
References and bibliography
Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{1900 Paris Exposition
Currencies introduced in 1899
United States dollar coins
Early United States commemorative coins
George Washington on United States currency
Cultural depictions of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Horses in art
Exposition Universelle (1900)
World's fair commemorative coins