Peck made the monument proposal a part of the American plans for Paris, and appointed the Lafayette Memorial Commission to raise funds for it.

Congress had received a letter from the American envoy to France, Benjamin Franklin, stating that Lafayette's family was wealthy and influential.

And may these happy United States attain that complete splendor and prosperity which will illustrate the blessings of their Government, and for ages to come rejoice the departed souls of its founders.

[6] One of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States,[7] 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".

Chicago businessman and philanthropist Ferdinand Peck 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.

[8] Later in 1898, President William McKinley appointed Peck as United States Commissioner-General to the 1900 Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair to be held in Paris.

The commission's officers included the treasurer, Comptroller of the Currency (and future Vice President of the United States) Charles G. Dawes, and the secretary, Robert J.

[9] 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.

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.

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.

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.

[11][12][13] Once the bill passed, Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber took personal charge of the project, seeking to avoid the delays and disputes that had marked the two previous commemoratives, the Columbian half dollar and the Isabella quarter.

[14] On March 24, 1899, Mint Director George E. Roberts 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.

Barber's concepts showing an equestrian statue for one side, and jugate 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.

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.

Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage insisted on the provision of the Coinage Act of 1873 that required the date of production to appear on the coins.

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.

"[25] 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.

[22] Q. David Bowers stated that "the shallow relief of Barber's work is but a travesty of Krider's extremely detailed high-relief artistry".

"[20] Art historian Cornelius Vermeule stated that, "the Lafayette dollar lacks the quaint, dated appeal of the Isabella quarter or the amusing originality of the Columbian half-dollar.

After Miss Gleary [the coining press operator] removed the first Lafayette dollar struck, she presented it to Mint Superintendent Henry Boyer.

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 ceremony was originally scheduled for February 22, 1900 (Washington's Birthday), but was not held until March 3, when Thompson presented the casket and coin to French President Émile Loubet.

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.

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.

Yeoman's deluxe edition of A Guide Book of United States Coins issued in 2018 lists the Lafayette dollar at $485 in Almost Uncirculated (AU-50) ranging upwards to $15,000 in near-pristine MS-66.

[40] 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.