I was looking at a 1928 $20 Gaudens the other day and the edge has the stars and E PLURIBUS UNUM. There were also a few vertical lines in there for no apparent reason. Are these normal? I don't remember the exact order but it would be something like UNUM | *
What you are probably seeing is the joint between sections of the collar. The St. Gaudens has raised edge lettering so the collar had to be made in sections so it could open and release the coin after it was struck (kind of like the collars used on the Proof versions of the Presidential Dollars of today).
