BEYOND COMMON: 1986 Statue of Liberty Commemoratives - US and France

1986 Statue of Liberty Commemorative
United States and France
Dual Commemoratives

The Statue of Liberty was a joint effort by the people of France and the people of the U.S. The copper statue was financed by the people of France and citizens of the U.S. provided the funds to build the pedestal.

The Statue of Liberty is a figure of a woman representing Liberty. She holds a torch above her head, and her left arm carries a tablet etched with roman numerals representing July 4, 1776. A broken shackle and chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and democracy, and is a welcoming sight to all those arriving to the U.S.

The idea of the Statue of Liberty can be traced back to a mid 1865 conversation between Édouard René de Laboulaye (president of the French Anti-Slavery Society) and French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. To commemorate the abolition of slavery and the Union's victory in the Civil War, Laboulaye suggested that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France. Besides some early sketches by Bartholdi - no real action was taken for over 10 years. Finally in September 1875 Laboulaye announced the project and the formation of the Franco-American Union as its fund raising arm.

Even though the design of the Statue was not finalized, Bartholdi began work on the statue. The torch bearing right arm was completed first, and put on display at Philadelphia’s Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair held in the United States. When the World Fair concluded the Arm was transported to New York's Madison Square and displayed for several years before it was returned to France. Bartholdi next completed the head, which was exhibited at the Paris World's Fair in 1878. The partial statue pieces were used to bring awareness and raise funds for the project.
To finish the project Bartholdi enlisted the services of Gustave Eiffel, the innovative designer and builder of the famed Eiffel Tower. Bartholdi fabricated the exterior hammered copper skin. And Eiffel designed and constructed the inner support structure. Eiffel's design made the statue one of the first examples of curtain wall construction, where the exterior of the structure is not load bearing, but is instead supported by an interior framework. Eiffel and Bartholdi coordinated their work precisely so that the completed sections of skin would fit exactly on to the support structure. The Statue of Liberty was originally assembled in France, and officially completed at a public ceremony on July 4, 1884. The statue remained on display in Paris pending funding for the pedestal. Once adequate funding for the pedestal was secured the statue was disassembled and crated up for it's voyage to America.

The original design of the pedestal was crafted by Richard Morris Hunt in 1881. He submitted plans for the pedestal and estimated that the construction would take about 9 months. The original design for the pedestal was 114 feet tall, but due to lack of funds the pedestal was later reduced to a height of 89 feet.

Fund raising for the pedestal proved to be a difficult task for the Americans, as donations dried up $100,000 short of the required budget. But Joseph Pulitzer, future creator of the Pulitzer Prize and publisher of the newspaper New York World, announced a drive to raise the last $100,000. Pulitzer promised to print the name of every contributor, no matter how small the donation. The drive captured the imagination of Americans, when Pulitzer began publishing the notes he received with the donations: "A young girl alone in the world" donated 60 cents, the result of self denial. "One donor gave five cents as a poor office boy's mite toward the Pedestal Fund." A group of children sent a dollar as "the money we saved to go to the circus with." It was not long before the last $100,000 was raised.

After the donations flooded in, the pedestal was able to be completed in April 1886. Soon thereafter, reassembly of the statue began. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886 by President Grover Cleveland and celebrated with New York's first ticker tape parade.

To commemorate the 100th year anniversary of the Statue of Liberty,
both United States and France produced Commemorative Gold and
Silver Coins, along with twin postage stamps.

Sources and additional information:
https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/statue-of-liberty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
http://www.dcstampclub.org/pdfs/Charles_Statue_of_Liberty.pdf