What is a Star Note?

A Star Note is a replacement banknote. Star notes are used to replace banknotes that were damaged or misprinted during production. The damaged note is destroyed and a replacement note is printed. Old U.S. star notes (before 1910) were issued with the same serial number of the note they were replacing. The same is true of U.S. printed banknotes for the Philippines from this era. As banknote demand and print quantities increased over time this process became impractical and time consuming. Now whole sheets of replacement notes are prepared with their own sequence of serial numbers allowing bulk replacement quickly and efficiently. This also means that modern replacement notes typically do not bear the same serial number as the notes that they are replacing.

Governments around the world plan the release of banknotes to the public very carefully and both an over or under supply can have economic impacts. Star notes allow an easy way to ensure that all defective notes can be replaced and that overall release numbers do not vary from planned release quantities.

Different countries use different symbols (or even letters) to identify replacement notes. The Philippines uses a star as does the U.S., India and Australia (but only for notes up until 1972). Canada will use an asterisk (“*”) or on later notes a “33” or “X”. Hong Kong will prefix with “ZZ”. There are many different identifiers globally for replacement notes. Some countries choose to prefix (print before) the serial number and others choose to append it to the end of the serial number (as with later U.S. banknotes). The above example notes from the Philippines clearly show the star at the front of the serial number.

The following example from Hong Kong shows the “ZZ” prefix:

For replacement notes of the Philippines it is appropriate to call them “star notes” whereas for the Hong Kong example above this does not make sense and one would simply refer to it as a “replacement note”. Note: During WWII the Japanese government issued replacement Philippine banknotes (from 1943) identified by a leading ‘1’ as in the example below:

Are star notes worth anything?

In short, yes. Collectors will pay more than face value for star notes. They will also pay more for consecutive numbered notes and for notes which are scarcer. As with all banknotes, the overall quality of the note greatly affects its value. Whole sheets of star notes are typically harder to find and will fetch a higher premium. Also, as with any collectible, the quantity released can also affect the overall value (how many star notes were released for a particular denomination/type/year).

If you are into collecting banknotes then star notes could be an interesting branch of your collection.

Happy hunting and have fun with your collection!