I just got this last week and have been providing a history lesson to my co-workers. I'm not really a commemorative guy but this is one I just had to have. There is a lot of history in my area about him so this was a no brainer. I live in Lafayette, IN so obviously the name is self explanatory. Only one out of about 50 people I've talked to have ever even heard of that Lafayette Dollar. And to make if more special, when I got hired 24yrs ago my original patch contained a picture of him. It's an awful likeness but him none the less. The patch has been redesigned several times in my career but I've still held on to one of these relics that was retired from our uniforms in 1991. You can now see why I had to own one. That's what I love about coins, the history that is associated with them.
A nice big impressive commemorative flintcreek. I'm a big history guy too and enjoy the stories that go with what we love to collect. Good to have you here on C/T. Bruce
Paris was the site of the 1900 Universal Exposition (World's Fair) which was held in conjunction with the 1900 Olympics. Nice pick-up! Chris
Flint, you might like this thread I wrote about the Lafayette Dollar a few years ago. Lafayette Dollar--A Numismatic Treasure Enjoy, Paul
That's a great post! Thanks. I found the minting date very interesting. So of course I checked out the Washington bio and he did in fact die 100yr to the day before the mint date, but I then noticed he was born in 1732. That made me realize the Washington Quarter was the bicentennial of his birth. Thus he has a centennial death coin and a bicentennial birth coin. Another fun circumstance is that upon showing it to a coin collecting buddy that had never seen it, he had always asked people what coin had a head on both sides and he always said the answer was the Lincoln Memorial Cent. He immediately saw the reverse of this coin and noted his error all these years.
love the design of the Lafayette, came very close several times to getting one but stopped....may have to go ahead and try and own one!
He also has a 250th anniversary birth coin, the 1982 Washington half dollar. The Lafayete dollar is technically the only undated US coin. The 1900 on the coin refers to the date of the Paris exposition and is not the date of the coin. (And being struck in 1899, it would not have been legal to date them 1900. The government actually followed the law more closely back then.)
