1986 Lone Star – Lone Star State Silver Round

MintUnknown Mint

IssuerColonial Coins (Houston TX)

DistributorColonial Coins (Houston TX)

CollectionThe Lone Star State Collection

A large five-pointed star stands at the center of a wreath of oak and olive branches, after the Texas state seal, within rope and beaded borders. Legends: "THE STATE OF TEXAS" above and "1836 · SESQUICENTENNIAL · 1986" below.

"THE LONE STAR STATE" arches across the top above an outline of Texas bearing the word "TEXAS," with small stars scattered inside it. Below read ".999 FINE SILVER" and "ONE TROY OUNCE," with a ring of stars around the rim.

1986 Lone Star – Lone Star State Silver Round Overview

1986 Lone Star – Lone Star State Silver Round puts a single five-pointed star at the center of a one-ounce .999 fine silver round made for the 150th anniversary of Texas independence. It is the Lone Star design of The Lone Star State Collection, a six-design 1986 series sold through Colonial Coins, Inc. of Houston. The star is the one on the seal of the State of Texas, and the story of the round is the story of how that star came to stand for Texas.

The star’s official history begins in the Revolution. On March 12, 1836, ten days after independence was declared, the Convention of 1836, meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos, adopted a resolution offered by George C. Childress naming “a single star of five points” as the Republic’s “peculiar emblem,” according to the Texas Secretary of State. Childress (1804–1841) was a Nashville lawyer who left Tennessee in late 1835 to join the Texas cause. At the convention he called the delegates to order and chaired the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and the Handbook of Texas calls him “almost universally acknowledged as the primary author” of it. He died on October 6, 1841, after cutting his abdomen with a Bowie knife while living in Galveston. The sources do not say why he proposed the star, and no record shows it was used as a seal at that point. On December 10, 1836, President Sam Houston approved a circular seal proposed by David G. Burnet, showing a single star with the words “Republic of Texas,” and the same day approved the “National Standard of Texas,” a blue field with a large gold star, which Burnet had proposed in an October 11, 1836 letter to Congress, as the Handbook of Texas records. The star stood alone on both.

The branches came three years later. In the Third Congress, Senator William H. Wharton introduced a bill on December 28, 1838, and a substitute from Senator Oliver Jones’s committee passed. President Mirabeau B. Lamar approved it on January 25, 1839. It gave the Republic a coat of arms of a white five-pointed star on a blue field, encircled by olive and live oak branches. The committee’s report described the branches as “emblems of Peace, and of the Materials of our strong arm of national defence in War, and indigenous to our Soil.” Peter Krag drew the official art, and the Handbook of Texas notes that he mistakenly drew Spanish or post oak leaves instead of live oak, which began more than a century of debate over the correct design. The Lone Star Flag was approved the same day, with the same star centered in a blue stripe.

When Texas joined the Union, the Constitution of 1845 kept the seal and changed “Republic” to “State,” with the words “the State of Texas.” The Constitution of 1876 gave the seal to the secretary of state to use under the governor’s supervision. The official sources do not say what the star itself stands for. Adina de Zavala, writing in a September 1948 Frontier Times article, tied its five points to fortitude, loyalty, righteousness, prudence, and broadmindedness, and the 1933 flag law gave the flag’s colors the “lessons” of bravery, loyalty, and purity, as the Texas State Library and Archives records.

The round puts that seal on silver for the anniversary. The obverse shows a large star at the center of a wreath of oak and olive branches, set within rope and beaded borders, with “THE STATE OF TEXAS” above and “1836 · SESQUICENTENNIAL · 1986” below. The legend is the 1845 wording of the state seal, and the dates frame the star’s own 150 years, since the convention named it on March 12, 1836. The reverse, shared by all six designs in the series, reads “THE LONE STAR STATE” above an outline of Texas bearing the word “TEXAS” and small stars scattered across it, so the same star that anchors the obverse is repeated across the map.

1986 Lone Star – Lone Star State Silver Round Attribution

The year is struck on the obverse as part of the legend “1836 · SESQUICENTENNIAL · 1986,” so no dating attribution is needed.

The round carries no mint mark or maker’s name. Manufacturer/Mint is recorded as Unknown. Issuer and Distributor are attributed to Colonial Coins, Inc.: a period Colonial Coin World advertisement lists the Lone Star State line, including this “Star” design in 1 oz silver, as Colonial’s product. No Certificate of Authenticity or original packaging has been tied to this example, so the attribution rests on the advertisement and is attributed, not confirmed.

1986 Lone Star – Lone Star State Silver Round Notes

• The same obverse was issued in other formats in the series, including ½ oz silver and 1 oz gold. This entry covers the 1 oz silver round only.
• The reverse is shared with the other five silver obverses of The Lone Star State Collection.
• Mintage is not documented.

1986 Lone Star – Lone Star State Silver Round References

• The Texas State Seal, Texas Secretary of State
• The Texas Declaration of Independence: The 1836 Convention, Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association
• George Campbell Childress, Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association
• Seals of Texas, Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association
• Flags of Texas, Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association
• Flag and Seal Design by Peter Krag, approved January 25, 1839, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
• Texas State Flag Description, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
• Colonial Coins, Inc., period Coin World advertisement listing the Lone Star State designs and formats
• The Lone Star State Collection, The Texas Stacker
• Colonial Coins, Inc. (Houston, TX), The Texas Stacker
• Documented example examined (this entry)
• Texas Stacker Archives

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