Commems Collection Classic: 1925 Stone Mountain - Seeing Stars

Thanks commems for another great numismatic history lesson.

This was one of my first commemorative coins added to my collection.

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That's truly an amazing specimen. I wouldn't really want to own it, price aside, but it's something to marvel at for sure.

Smooth!

@fortcollins: First, thanks for the kind words! Second, I wasn't aware of that theory before reading your post, but it was actually something I wondered about as I tallied the overall number of stars on the coin.

I ultimately decided that it made sense to consider the stars on each side as individual groups vs. two parts of a whole, however. So, that's how I crafted my post. I did so using the following lines of thought:

- if the 13 stars on the obverse represented the Confederate states, they were a very strong tie-in to the depiction of the Confederate Generals Lee and Jackson (i.e., they fit in with a strong Confederate theme on the obverse).

- the symbolic use of stars (or other devices) is most often tied to the time of the event being commemorated (e.g., 22 stars on the Alabama Statehood coin, 24 stars on the Missouri Statehood half dollar, 29 stars on the Iowa Statehood half dollar, etc.) vs. a future date. As the coin's commemorative theme was connected to the time of the Civil War, including a group of stars to represent the states in the Union at that time seemed very plausible.

- Borglum initially included a number of stars (36) that could be justified as representative of the number of states at the CW's conclusion - the loss of one star (for the reasons I noted above) would not be beyond reason.


All that said, your theory makes enough sense to me to make me want to dig a little deeper to determine if I can find supporting evidence for one theory or the other (or something completely different!).

That is a fascinating alternate theory! I look forward to seeing what commems can dig up on that.

I like the alternate theory as well. Looking forward to what commems might come up with. If there is anyone who can dig up some research facts - well, that would be commems.

@FortCollins: I finally had the chance to review correspondence of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) regarding the design of the Stone Mountain half dollar, but could not find any discussion of the stars, their symbolism or specific direction the CFA provided to Borglum re: the stars on the coin.

I must admit, the story does have a certain logic to it - but is that enough?

The sculptor member of the CFA, James Earle Fraser, found multiple faults with Borglum's design which he communicated in letters to the artist, but they were directed at the figures of the Confederate generals within the design of the obverse, the head of Jefferson Davis' horse protruding into the obverse design from the right, the general style of the coin's lettering, the physical appearance of the eagle on the reverse and the crowded overall presentation of the coin's reverse design. I didn't come across any new direction/discussion re: the stars or the number thereof.

The only reference to the stars on the coin that I found is in the book Give the Man Room by Robert Casey and Mary Borglum; the book tells the story of Gutzon Borglum and has a much wider scope than Stone Mountain. The volume recounts a conversation between Borglum and Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon in which Borglum coyly responds to Mellon's question about the 13 stars that are seen on the coin's obverse, by stating "It all depends on which side of Mason and Dixon's line you happen to live. They could, of course, stand for the thirteen rebellious states." (Of course, by "rebellious" Borglum meant "Confederate" vs. the original 13 colonies that rebelled against the British Crown.) Mellon reportedly laughed at Borglum's comment/joke and approved the preliminary design.

So, while my lack of specific evidence to the contrary in no way disproves the explanations that you've heard, it does lead me to think that the stars were not a focus for the CFA. If they do, in fact, represent the 48 States of the Union in 1925, I tend to believe it was a design detail Borglum devised on his own.