Monnaie de Paris, the French Mint, has released a new, low-mintage coin program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution. The two coins in the program, one gold and one silver, feature a portrait of the young general on the obverse, with his frigate and the French and American Revolutionary flags on the reverse. The release of the Lafayette program is timed to coincide with the Independence Days of both democracies in whose revolutions Lafayette fought for freedom, July 4 in the United States and July 14 (Bastille Day) in France. Lafayette died in 1834 in Paris. In accord with his last wishes, dirt he had taken from the Bunker Hill battlefield was spread over his grave, because he wished to be buried in both American and French soil.

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