FREE: Statue of Liberty 17 cents Air Mail Mint Plate Block

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Statue of Liberty

Originally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World," the Statue of Liberty was
a gift from the French to the American people to honor the 1876 centennial
celebration.

French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designed the exterior copper shell,
in the form of a draped female figure carrying a torch aloft.

Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, built the wrought-iron
pylon inside.

American architect Richard Morris Hunt planned the stone-and-concrete pedestal.

The statue was completed in Paris in 1884 and unveiled in New York Harbor on
October 26, 1886. Funds for the statue were donated by the French, and funds
for the base by Americans.

In the 1980s funds were raised privately to restore the statue and neighboring
Ellis Island in time for the centennial of the statue's dedication.