I've started to see combinations of 6 and 8 in some of the embellishments so I decided to look at the number 48, and I found an interesting interpretation.

The number 48 is 40 + 8 or in Hebrew mem and chet or חמ. This is a Hebrew word, "moach."

The modern interpretation of moach is "brain," but the biblical use of moach was "marrow." This word only shows up once in the Old Testament in Job 21:23 "his bones are moistened with marrow."

Marrow is a very unusual word in daily speech, but does it have a spiritual or scriptural context?

The concept of marrow shows up several places in the scriptures:

Psalm 63:5 "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness"

Proverbs 3:8 "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones."

Isaiah 25:6 "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."

Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

D&C 89:18 "And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones"

The scriptures specifically describe dead bones as "dry." They have no marrow. 

Ezekiel 37:1-2 "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry."

In distinction, marrow is a sign of life.