$5 star notes
A star at the end of the serial means the note replaced a sheet spoiled during printing. On a $5, whether that is worth anything depends entirely on the size of the run it came from — and $5 runs range from 125,000 notes to 4,352,000.
Look up the print run for this star note — enter the serial and it identifies the exact run, its size, and whether that makes it scarce.
What the data says about $5 star notes
| Runs indexed | 60 |
|---|---|
| Districts covered | 12 |
| Smallest run | 125,000 notes |
| Typical run | 640,000 notes |
| Largest run | 4,352,000 notes |
| Scarce by run size | 17 of 60 |
| Common | 28 of 60 |
28 of the 60 indexed $5 star runs are common, so "it has a star" is not by itself an answer. The scarcest recorded is the Series 2017 New York, NY run of 125,000 notes.
The rule that decides it
A run of 640,000 notes or fewer is the collector threshold — but only counts if no larger run exists for the same denomination, series and district. When a larger run exists, collectors source from that one instead and the small run's premium never appears. That conditioning is why some small $5 runs rank as only moderately scarce.
The full explanation, the tier definitions and the lookup itself are on the star note lookup.