Star note lookup
Enter the serial from a star note and this finds the exact print run it came from — how many notes were printed, which district, and whether that run size makes it scarce or ordinary. 582 runs indexed from Bureau of Engraving and Printing production reports.
What a star note is
Currency serial numbers are never repeated. So when a sheet is spoiled during printing — a smear, a misalignment, a fold through the press — the Bureau of Engraving and Printing cannot simply reprint that sheet with the same numbers. It destroys the sheet and prints a replacement from a separate run, whose serials end in a ★ in place of the usual suffix letter.
That is the whole of it. A star means "this note replaced a spoiled one". It does not mean the note is old, an error, or misprinted, and by itself it does not mean the note is valuable.
Why the print run decides everything
Star notes are printed in their own runs, and those runs vary in size by two orders of magnitude. Across the 582 runs indexed here the smallest is 8,000 notes and the largest is 25,600,000. A star from the first is a genuinely scarce object. A star from the second is a dollar bill.
The collector threshold is 640,000 notes. Below it a run is small enough to be worth chasing — but only if no larger run exists for the same denomination, series and district. When a larger run does exist, collectors fill that slot from the large run, and the small run's premium never materialises. This is the single rule that separates a useful star note tool from a misleading one, and it is why a 3,200,000-note run appears here as common rather than "scarce".
| Standing | Meaning | Runs | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very scarce | At or under 640,000, sole run for its district, and an earlier series | 37 | 6% |
| Scarce | At or under 640,000 with no larger run behind it | 76 | 13% |
| Moderately scarce | Small run, but a larger one exists for the same district | 191 | 33% |
| Common | Above 640,000 notes | 278 | 48% |
What star notes are worth
Premiums are added to face value rather than multiplied by it, and they are scaled by denomination, by condition, and by how far under the threshold the run sits — an 8,000-note run and a 640,000-note run are both scarce and are not the same note. On the scarce end, where the premium rests on a condition claim, PMG grading is usually what makes the note sellable at the top of its band.
| Standing | $1 star | $20 star | $100 star |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very scarce | $30 – $130 | $70 – $250 | $175 – $425 |
| Scarce | $9 – $40 | $35 – $90 | $120 – $200 |
| Moderately scarce | $2 – $11 | $20 – $40 | $105 – $125 |
| Common | $1 – $3 | $20 – $25 | $100 – $105 |
Star notes by denomination
Every denomination below is covered by the lookup above — there is no separate page per denomination, because the answer depends on your specific run and not on the face value. These are the indexed figures for each.
$1 star notes
143 runs indexed across 12 prefixes and 12 districts, series 1999 to 2021. Run sizes go from 25,000 notes to 9,600,000, with a typical run of 1,280,000. 17 of them clear the scarcity bar; 74 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2017 Richmond, VA run of 250,000 notes. $1 print run detail.
$2 star notes
33 runs indexed across 12 prefixes and 12 districts, series 2003 to 2021. Run sizes go from 8,000 notes to 3,200,000, with a typical run of 128,000. 18 of them clear the scarcity bar; 6 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2003 San Francisco, CA run of 8,000 notes. $2 print run detail.
$5 star notes
60 runs indexed across 34 prefixes and 12 districts, series 1999 to 2021. Run sizes go from 125,000 notes to 4,352,000, with a typical run of 640,000. 17 of them clear the scarcity bar; 28 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2017 New York, NY run of 125,000 notes. $5 print run detail.
$10 star notes
38 runs indexed across 28 prefixes and 10 districts, series 2001 to 2021. Run sizes go from 9,600 notes to 3,200,000, with a typical run of 640,000. 19 of them clear the scarcity bar; 14 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2004 Atlanta, GA run of 9,600 notes.
$20 star notes
111 runs indexed across 53 prefixes and 12 districts, series 1999 to 2017. Run sizes go from 128,000 notes to 6,400,000, with a typical run of 1,280,000. 14 of them clear the scarcity bar; 57 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2017 Boston, MA run of 320,000 notes. $20 print run detail.
$50 star notes
32 runs indexed across 23 prefixes and 8 districts, series 2001 to 2021. Run sizes go from 64,000 notes to 3,200,000, with a typical run of 640,000. 11 of them clear the scarcity bar; 15 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2004 New York, NY run of 64,000 notes.
$100 star notes
165 runs indexed across 58 prefixes and 12 districts, series 2001 to 2025. Run sizes go from 32,000 notes to 25,600,000, with a typical run of 1,024,000. 17 of them clear the scarcity bar; 84 are common. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2013 Atlanta, GA run of 128,000 notes. $100 print run detail.
Where this data stops
The BEP's online production archive begins with fiscal year 2003, and this index covers series 1999 through 2025 — 582 runs across 220 denomination and prefix combinations. Star runs for series 1976 through 1998 have to be hand-compiled from printed references and are not in this dataset.
If you look up an older note, the tool says it has no coverage rather than returning a confident wrong answer. A further 74 runs were parsed but withheld because the parser could not read them unambiguously — a withheld run is better than a guessed serial range. The methodology page covers how the ingest works and what it refuses to publish.
Questions
What is a star note?
A star note is a replacement. When a sheet of currency is damaged during printing, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing destroys it and prints a replacement with its own serial ending in a star instead of the usual suffix letter. Serial numbers are never repeated, so the star marks the note as a substitute rather than a duplicate.
Are star notes rare?
They are less common than regular notes, and that is not the same as rare. Of the 582 star runs indexed here, 48% were printed in quantities above the 640,000-note collector threshold. Only 19% are genuinely scarce. Whether yours is depends entirely on which run it came from, which is what the lookup answers.
How much is my star note worth?
Most star notes are worth face value or a little over. A star from a short run with no larger run behind it in the same district can carry a real premium, and in uncirculated condition the strongest of those reach into the hundreds. Condition matters as much as the run does. The lookup gives a band rather than a price, because the market is thin enough that a single number would be invented.
How do I tell which print run my star note came from?
By the denomination, the letters printed before the serial, and the serial number itself. Each run covers a contiguous block of serials, so the block your number falls into identifies the run. On a $1 or $2 the single prefix letter is the Federal Reserve district; on a $5 and above the two letters are the series and the district.
Does a low print run always mean a valuable star note?
No, and this is the mistake most star note tools make. A run of 640,000 notes or fewer only matters if there is no larger run for the same denomination, series and district. When a larger run exists, collectors buy from that instead and the small run's premium never appears.
A star is only one of the things that can lift a note above face value. Check a serial for collector patterns to test the eight digits themselves, or look up what a serial is worth for a plain dollar answer on a regular note.