1824 Washington and Lafayette countermarks on an 1824/4 O-110 Capped Bust half dollar. Musante GW-112-C1, Baker-198E. Host coin Mint State.

Here is a truly exceptional example of this classic type. The counterstamps are sharply impressed in the center on both the obverse and reverse of the lovely host coin. The half dollar is Mint State, fully lustrous, well centered and showing bold to sharp detail to all design elements not affected by the counterstamps. Close inspection with a loupe readily reveals repunching to the digit 4 in the date that confirms the Overton-110 attribution. The entire package -- host coin and counterstamps -- is beautifully toned with iridescent highlights of powder blue and champagne-pink on dominant dove-gray patina. The coin is lustrous, smooth and sure to sell for a strong premium. The Marquis de Lafayette was "America's Guest" in 1824 and 1825, traveling through each of the 24 states in the Union at the invitation of President James Monroe, receiving many gifts along the way at the nearly endless celebrations that celebrated his "homecoming" to the country he helped birth. Many cities and towns had statues of the Marquis erected just for the occasion of his visit. Lafayette put in more than 6,000 miles on his journey, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, as they traveled by horseback, wagon, steamboat, and canal barge. The Marquis left France on July 13, 1824 aboard the American merchant ship Cadmus, landing at Staten Island, New York on August 15 of the year. On August 25 he visited for several days with former president John Adams at the Adams homestead, Peacefield, in Quincy, Massachusetts. On September 11, he visited with French settlers in New York to celebrate the 47th Anniversary of the Battle of Brandywine. On the 28th of the month he gave a much-heralded speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On October 17 he visited Mount Vernon and the tomb of his beloved friend, George Washington, and on the two days following, October 18 and 19, he visited Yorktown to celebrate the 43rd Anniversary of that all-important battle that ended British rule in America. On November 4, he visited with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. On December 8 and 9 he visited Washington, D.C., and addressed the House of Representatives in full session. In late February Lafayette began the southern leg of his journey on travels that took him through the original colonies of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and all the other states south of what we would later call the "Mason-Dixon" line. On September 6, 1825, Lafayette returned to Washington, D.C. yet again, this time to meet with the new president, John Quincy Adams. On September 7, the celebrations all came to an end when Lafayette left Washington for France aboard the recently built warship/frigate USS Brandywine, a fitting name for the ship that brought the Marquis back home to his beloved France. Among the nearly uncountable honors bestowed upon him by our grateful nation was an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from The College of William and Mary, and honorary citizenship of Maryland. He was voted the sum of $200,000 by Congress, and a township of land in Tallahassee, Florida known as the Lafayette Land Grant. These counterstamps were made in celebration of Lafayette's visit, and they are most prevalent on Matron Head large cents dated 1816 to 1823. Capped Bust half dollar host coins are significantly rarer, the 1999 edition of the Rulau-Fuld reference on Washingtoniana accounting for only four or five specimens dated 1810 or 1824. (The more recent Musante reference notes only 1824-dated host coins of this denomination.) The present example is likely the finest known, and it was the only specimen known to B. Max Mehl when he handled it during the first half of the 20th century.

From the Q. David Bowers Collection. Acquired from Stew Witham, 1992. Earlier ex H.O. Granberg; B. Max Mehl; Waldo C. Newcomer; "Colonel" E.H.R. Green; B. Max Mehl's sale of the Belden E. Roach Collection, February 1944, lot 2030; unknown intermediaries; Q. David Bowers, 1985. Collector tag with provenance notes included.