Supermetallicity at the quarter-century mark: A conservative statistician's review of the evidence

Available high-dispersion data show that [Fe/H] similar to +0.25 +/- 0.04 dex for mu Lee, which has often been regarded as the prototypical super-metal-rich( SMR) star. Neither mu Leo nor any other giant is known to be SMR at present (by this paper's definition: [Fe/H] > 0.2 dex). This conclusion applies to both nearby giants and those in Baade's Window. Up to the level of feature-strength enhancement found in mu Lee, low-resolution data for candidate SMR giants are usually consistent with high-dispersion results. Beyond mu Lee's enhancement lever, high-dispersion analyses do not yield metallicities that are high enough to explain the low-resolution data readily. This problem does not rule out supermetallicity as an explanation for very strong lined stars, but it does interfere with an appeal to that explanation at present. Seven class IV-V stars seem to be firmly established as SMR stars. A number of stars besides these would likely repay further study. The stars (of all luminosity classes) that most require further work are HR 1779 AB, 18 Lib AB, 20 Cyg, HR 8924, and HR 1614. In a supporting analysis, it is found that the anomalous strong-feature weakening derived in a previous paper for Hyades dwarfs is also seen in Hyades giants.