# US Paper Currency: Unusual Star Note **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356 "2011-04-06T03:29:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356/1 "2011-04-06T03:29:05Z")
I’ve been interested in collecting coins and currency since I was a kid, and I make a habit of looking through my till for anything unusual when I have nothing better to at work. Tonight I came across not one, but six star notes, which was pretty cool in and of itself as far as I’m concerned, but one of them was a little unusual: Normally, on the $1 bills that I’ve seen, if there’s a star, it’s an outline, that is, it appears white or hollow in the center (like the one seen here: [http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/Jaobler/2008516\_50DolStarNote.jpg](http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/Jaobler/2008516_50DolStarNote.jpg)). On the bill I came across, one of the stars (the one at the end of the serial number on the left of the bill) is like this, but the one on the right is solid green–filled in and opaque (like the ones on this fifty: [http://www.holdencurrency.com/images/50-dollar\_Star\_Note\_FRONT2\_000.jpg](http://www.holdencurrency.com/images/50-dollar_Star_Note_FRONT2_000.jpg) . I was wondering what, if any, significance this has as I’ve never heard of it or seen one with one of each type of star before. The bill is a single from 2003, and the serial number is G08595043\*. If anybody could shed some light on the subject it’d be appreciated. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356/2 "2011-04-06T04:42:18Z")
nm. Misread OP ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356/3 "2011-04-06T04:57:07Z")
If I’m understanding your question correctly, you are asking why the different types of stars. You may already know that if a bill has a star at the end of a serial number, it is a replacement note issued for a bill of the same serial number that was destroyed or damaged during printing. The different kinds (hollow vs. solid) are just stylistic changes over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356/4 "2011-04-06T15:23:32Z")
> [@Amasia](#): > > If I’m understanding your question correctly, you are asking why the different types of stars. You may already know that if a bill has a star at the end of a serial number, it is a replacement note issued for a bill of the same serial number that was destroyed or damaged during printing. The different kinds (hollow vs. solid) are just stylistic changes over the years. Yes, I was curious about the different style of stars on the bills, specifically regarding the one-star-of-each-type [one hollow on the left, one solid on the right] like on this single I found, since I had never seen one with one of each before. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356/5 "2011-04-06T22:42:10Z")
I don’t have my Star-banknote book at home, but I’ll try to read about this at work tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-paper-currency-unusual-star-note/577356/6 "2011-04-07T13:37:08Z")
Different stars: > [@](#): > > Three different-looking stars have been used in these replacement serial numbers over the years. Most recently, a small hollow star is used; some early small-size notes used a larger solid star; all large-size star replacement notes used a large hollow star. It should be mentioned that a few series of large-size notes can be found with a solid star in the serial number, but these are not replacement notes. Rather, the solid star is one of many different characters that were used to mark one or both ends of a serial number in the years before it became traditional to use only alphabet letters for that purpose. > **[USPaperMoney.Info: Details of Serial Numbering](http://www.uspapermoney.info/general/number.html)**