Silver coin issued as part of the United States' participation in the Paris World's Fair of 1900
Lafayette dollar
United States
Value
1 United States dollar
Mass
26.73 g (412.5 gr)
Diameter
38.1 mm (1.5 in)
Edge
reeded
Composition
90.0% silver
10.0% copper
Silver
0.77344 troy oz
Years of minting
1899 (a 1900 date appears on the coin)
Mintage
50,026 (less 26 assay coins and 14,000 melted)
Mint marks
None. All specimens struck at Philadelphia Mint without mint mark.
Obverse
Design
Conjoined busts of Washington and Lafayette
Designer
Charles E. Barber
Design date
1899
Reverse
Design
Equestrian statue of Lafayette
Designer
Charles E. Barber
Design date
1899
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 with George Washington, and designed by Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, 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. Among these supporters was Chicago businessman Ferdinand Peck, whom President William McKinley 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. Barber stated that the bases for his work were a sculpture of Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 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, 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 Lafayette dollar is valued from several hundred dollars to tens of thousands, depending on condition.
The Lafayettedollar was a silver coin issued as part of the United States' participation in the Paris World's Fair of 1900. Depicting Gilbert du Motier...
volunteer pilots flying fighters. It was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolutionary War. In September 1917, the...
1779 – 29 November 1849) was the son of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, the French officer and hero of the American Revolution, and Adrienne...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
black for the next thirty days. In 1899, Lafayette appeared with Washington on a U.S. coin, the Lafayettedollar that was minted in 1899 (though showing...
troops led by General George Washington with support from Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops led by Comte de Rochambeau and a French naval force...
engraving that would be used for Washington's portrait on the United States one-dollar bill. A corresponding portrait of Martha Washington is also known as the...
program was authorized by the America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 110–456 (text)...
the original (nearly 8 million in 1890 Francs; ~US$40 million in 2018 dollars). France portal List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region...
1991 the United States Mint released commemorative silver dollar, half-dollar, and five-dollar coins celebrating the 50th anniversary of the monument's...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
his great aunt, Mrs. Betsy Ross, in 1824 during the time of General Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia. In this version, Dr. Benjamin Franklin replaces...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
much like an American Bluetick Coonhound) as a gift from the Marquis de Lafayette. Around two years later, Washington acquired eight regular hounds from...
History Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier marquis de (1837). Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette. Saunders...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
quarters Washington dollarLafayettedollar Silver bullion coins Washington nickel Washington half eagle 250th Anniversary half dollar Mount Rushmore Anniversary...
portrait of Washington on the commemorative Lafayettedollar dated 1900 and on the Sesquicentennial half dollar of 1926. According to coin dealer and numismatic...
officers beneath the Stars and Stripes; among them are the Marquis de Lafayette and Colonel Jonathan Trumbull, the brother of the painter. General George...
Presidential dollar coin (obverse), 1st of four U.S. presidents issued in 2007. 1900 commemorative silver Lafayettedollar 1926 commemorative half dollar – 150th...
process. During the Revolutionary War, Mary Washington met the Marquis de Lafayette at her home in Fredericksburg. The two enjoyed a warm relationship for...
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