1900 Lafayette Commemorative Dollar

Time to get back to sharing some of my journey in collecting classic commemoratives. This week I wanted to share with you the 1900 Lafayette Commemorative Dollar. I just picked up this coin about a week and a half ago at auction. It will be added to my overall collection of classic commemorative coins.

This coin commemorates the erection of a monument of General Lafayette for the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. Lafayette was a French general who fought in the American Revolutionary War alongside the colonials and is a celebrated hero.

The coin contains 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper. It weighs 26.7 grams and has a reeded edge. The coins obverse and reverse were both designed by Charles E. Barber the famous coin engraver in 1899.

The obverse has joined bust of George Washington and Lafayette with United States of America and Lafayette Dollar the outter edge of the obverse. The statue of Lafayette is on the reverse of the coin along with the inscriptions Erected by the Youth of the United States in Honor of Gen Lafayette and Paris 1900.

It was minted in Philadelphia. Around 50,000 were produced, but over 14,000 were eventually unsold and melted down by the mint. It is believed only just over 36,000 made it into circulation. It has a Numista rarity index of 63 of 100.

The minting of the 1900 Lafayette dollar symbolized the friendship between the United States and France. This coin serves as a tribute to this historical connection. This was also the first coin to display a U.S. President with the effigy of George Washington on the obverse with Lafayette.

If you have any further information about this coin you would like to add, like historical information I left out or want to correct any I may have gotten wrong, please drop it in the comments.

Thanks for reading,
Joe

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