Auction Name: 2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 42067

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6331*42067

Marquis de Lafayette Rare Check Signed ("Lafayette") on the verso. 6 7/8 x 2 5/8 inches; Washington; February 21, 1825. With a single punch cancellation at center.

An important and exceptionally scarce relic from Lafayette's celebrated 1824-1825 tour of the United States, being a check made out to him by the Bank of the United States, No. 7576. It awards him $18,000 in recognition of his service to the nation during the American War of Independence and the incredible amount of his own money that he used to fund the Continental Army. Endorsed by Lafayette on the verso, "Pay to Isaac McLellan / Lafayette," with McLellan's own endorsement just below, and signed on the recto by cashier Richard Smith. Issued while Lafayette was in the Washington-Alexandria area during his American visit, the check is a vivid relic of one of the most celebrated public tours of the early republic.

When the 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette sailed for America in April 1777, he was a wealthy, passionate, and idealistic French aristocrat seeking glory and eager to fight for the American cause of liberty. Despite royal prohibition, he bought his own ship, La Victoire, and left behind a pregnant wife to volunteer as a major general in the Continental Army for no pay. He spent more than $200,000 of his own money over the course of the war to clothe, feed, and pay the soldiers of the Revolution. Nearly fifty years later, as the last living Revolutionary War hero, Lafayette was invited to tour the country by President James Monroe. He arrived on August 15, 1824 and toured all twenty-four states of the union over the next thirteen months. Given his renowned status, the tour was a momentous event and heavily attended by the American public, with parades thrown in multiple cities.

Following this visit, Congress voted to award him $200,000 and a substantial tract of land in gratitude for his contributions to American independence. This award was disbursed in two checks, for $120,000 and $80,000, the former of which is now held at the museum at Valley Forge. The amount represented by this check was drawn from that larger award. After returning to France, Lafayette continued to step in and out of the political spotlight for the remainder of his life, playing a key role in the change of power from Charles X to Louis Philippe I, maintaining his dedication to the public, and never hiding his frustration with common excesses of those in power.

Condition: Very good. Age-toned with flattened folds. Some edgewear, including several small separations and very minor loss at the top left and bottom right. Rectangular adhesive staining at the right edge on the recto; scattered adhesive staining to the verso. Tear at the right edge on the verso just touching the final "e" in Lafayette's signature. Still, his endorsement is clear and very legible.

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