A couple weeks ago, I got a note from Dave Hirt, who wrote:

The note began:

I didn't have time to look into it, but it had the feel of an urban myth. The message began with a description of a number of the familiar elements of the One Dollar bill and the Great Seal of the United States, and the many instances of the number 13 - some intentionally, some coincidentally - representing the original 13 colonies:

I had seen the 13 stars a zillion times, but never saw them as a Star of David. This was news to me. But the email helpfully included a diagram connecting the dots. Hey! Maybe it was a Star of David.

The email went on to say:

I Googled around and learned that Solomon did indeed exist, but how could anyone prove the assertion that Solomon inspired the arrangement of stars on the Seal? I have a few books on the Great Seal on my shelves, but as much as I love numismatic research, I didn't have the time to review them.

Luckily, one of my favorite web sites came to the rescue this week. Snopes.com, a site that examines and busts Internet myths, published an article about this email. They write:

So that's that - an interesting story, but most likely a tall tale.

To read the complete article, see:Who Was Hayim Solomon?(www.snopes.com/business/money/solomon.asp)