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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Joshycfl, post: 737732, member: 16811&quot;]<b> <font size="2">Late last night I decided to write a little bit about my most recent favorite coin, the Lafayette Commemorative Dollar.&nbsp; This coin will for sure be a prime specimen in my collection in the near future, but until then all i can do is research and write about it. And with a little bit of help from Lehigh, i present to you my short writing about it.</font></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Please enjoy.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>any criticism is welcome, I am by no means perfect and i&#039;m willing to correct any mistakes I may have made.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>I also posted it on my website that I have been working on as a hobby at <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86" rel="nofollow">www.kestneronline.com</a> but i also posted it below because I don&#039;t think its proper to only post a link to my personal site.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Lafayette Commemorative Dollar </b></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <p style="text-align: left"><b><u>Commemorative Lafayette Silver Dollar –</u></b></p><p>&nbsp; <img src="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86/_/rsrc/1258178695566/coin-database/lafayette-commemorative-dollar/Lafayette.jpg?height=200&amp;width=145" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <font face="verdana">Marquis De Lafayette could arguably be one of the most important figureheads of the new Americas.</font><font face="verdana">A French born Continental Army Major General aided Commander and Chief, George Washington in the battles of Yorktown, Brandywine, and Valley Forge.</font><font face="verdana">During the battle of Brandywine, General Lafayette retuned to France to negotiate the increase of French support, helping secure a victory.</font></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <font face="verdana">&nbsp; &nbsp; </font></p><p><font face="verdana"><br /></font></p><p><font face="verdana">The </font><font face="verdana">United States were invited to the 1900 French Exposition, and found it proper to create a monument dedicated to the late General Lafayette.</font><font face="verdana">The sculpture of the project was to be Paul Wayland Bartlett, who would create a statue depicting Lafayette riding horseback. </font><font face="verdana">March 3</font><font face="verdana">rd</font><font face="verdana">, 1899 was the date when Congress authorized the production of the very first commemorative silver dollar to help pay for the monument.</font><font face="verdana">It was decided that 50,000 coins were to be produced in one single day, December 14</font><font face="verdana">th</font><font face="verdana">, 1899.</font><font face="verdana">This date happened to be the 100</font><font face="verdana">th</font><font face="verdana"> anniversary of Washington’s death.&nbsp; Although this coin has a date on it, it is not the mint date, its purely a commemorative date, so technically its dateless.</font></p><p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86/coin-database/lafayette-commemorative-dollar/lafayette_dollar_obv.jpg?attredirects=0" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86/coin-database/lafayette-commemorative-dollar/lafayette_dollar_obv.jpg?attredirects=0" rel="nofollow"><font face="verdana"><img src="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86/_/rsrc/1258178881910/coin-database/lafayette-commemorative-dollar/lafayette_dollar_obv.jpg?height=200&amp;width=200" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></a><font face="verdana"><img src="http://sites.google.com/site/kestner86/_/rsrc/1258178914304/coin-database/lafayette-commemorative-dollar/lafayette_dollar_rev.jpg?height=200&amp;width=200" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #000000"><u><font face="verdana"></font></u></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #000000"><u><font face="verdana"><br /></font></u></span></p> </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <font face="verdana">The United States mint’s Chief Engraver, Charles E. Barber was to be the sole designer of the dies.</font><font face="verdana">The obverse of the coin depicts both George Washington and Lafayette’s Bust.&nbsp; Not only was this coin the first commemorative, it was also the first coin to show an American president.</font><font face="verdana">Many have claimed Barber copied the design from a previous Medal crafted by Peter Krider in 1881.</font><font face="verdana">The reverse of the coin shows what the coin was created for, the statue of General Lafayette.</font></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <font face="verdana"></font></p><p><font face="verdana"><br /></font></p><p><font face="verdana">The sale of the coins at $2 proved to be rather slow, only selling a little over 36,000.</font><font face="verdana">The remanding coins sat at the mint until melted in 1945.</font><font face="verdana">Designed to be commemorative coins, and never intended to be put into circulation, these coins seemed to be bought by many non-numismatist, and therefore were severely mistreated, often polished or used as pocket pieces.</font><font face="verdana">So, not surprisingly, coins in the higher MS range are especially rare.</font></p><p><font face="verdana"><br /></font></p><p><font face="verdana"><br /></font></p><p><font face="verdana">Information courtesy of <a href="http://www.coinsite.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinsite.com/" rel="nofollow">www.coinsite.com</a></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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