The meaning of six-sided stars on Federal Coinage??

DMWJR

Anybody know why six sided stars are on federal coinage? I've never really thought about it, but my wife looked at one of my coins (a Trime) and asked me why the star of David was on it. I really had not thought about "why."

oldshep

Doug: In his book "Coin Clinic, 1001 Frequently Asked Questions", Alan Herbert was asked this question,"Why did we switch from six pointed stars to 5 pointed stars on some of our coins in 1892" . The answer was this; "...The apparent source of the change was the adaption of the reverse with five point stars from the Great Seal, while the earlier six point stars date back to English and French heraldry. The Great Seal and the Presidential Seal both have five point stars, while that of the House of Representatives uses six point stars. No specific reason has surfaced in Mint records."

That seems to say - it is a designers choice rather then some "specifc reason"

Shep

Tade

Odlshep:

That was wonderful trivia, thank you for posting. Do you have any more of that information that
we may be interested in?

Tade

PS Think I'm going to order that book.

oldshep

Ask and you shall recieve... if I know it that is. The book is really interesting a real great look into numismatic trivia but real data well researched. I enjoyed it.
Shep