1824 GW-112-C1 Washington-Lafayette on 1824 Half Dollar

Coin Details

Description

The year 1824 carries special historical resonance for this Washington-Lafayette dual-portrait counterstamped piece (Baker 196, Musante GW-112), as it coincides with the Marquis de Lafayette's triumphant farewell tour of the United States — a sixteen-month journey through all twenty-four states that generated an unprecedented outpouring of public adulation for the last surviving general of the Revolutionary War. The 1824 Capped Bust half dollar host coin directly connects this piece to Lafayette's visit, suggesting the counterstamp was applied as a commemorative gesture marking the event. Lafayette's return to America fifty years after the Revolution was one of the great public spectacles of the early republic: Congress granted him $200,000 and a township of land, and his tour generated countless commemorative objects including medals, tokens, textiles, and ceramics. The dual-portrait counterstamp presents both Washington and Lafayette in profile, honoring the deep personal friendship between the two men that had become a powerful symbol of the Franco-American alliance. The Capped Bust half dollar, designed by John Reich and struck at the Philadelphia Mint in silver at 13.48 grams with a 32.5 mm diameter, provided an ideal canvas for the counterstamp's paired portraits. Very rare, Washington-Lafayette host-coin pieces with the historically significant 1824 date are among the most desirable configurations in the entire GW-112 series, as the direct chronological connection to Lafayette's farewell tour elevates the piece from numismatic curiosity to historical artifact.

Rarity Notes

Very rare. The 1824 date coincides with Lafayette's farewell tour.

Cross References

Baker 196; Musante GW-112