Now that I think about it, I'm not surprised to see star notes with low serial numbers. It's said that one bill in about 10,000 is replaced by a star note. That would mean to have a star with three zero's in FRONT of it's number, would require a production run of more than 9.9 million bills in that series. It makes it 10,000X easier to find a low serial number (Star Note) but 10,000X harder to find the note it's self.
I really haven't found any that low in circ, but one of my dealers had a 1963 $1 with a serial of 00001840 for only 2 bucks. Of course I bought it. One of my other dealers has a '57 $1 Silv Cert with the serial number 00000003 for $150. I hope to pick it up sometime in the next month...
sort of. I went to the bank to withdraw some money. They guy asked if I wanted some 2's because he had them, I said sure. He comes out with about 6 of these (with the stamps) -- but this was a the only star note
Wow, I don't have any with that low of a serial number. This one is about my lowest, but still far from some of the ones I've seen here:
Well it's been 20 months since I started this thread. I have finally found a lower serial number in my cash loaf (the previous lowest was 00079137), by about 67000! I know it's not worth anything (well, $5), but I would think it is highly unlikely I will find anything lower than this. Carry on...
Don't think of it as highly unlikely. I have found 2 3 digit S/N's in all of my strap searching in the past. $5 ID00000250B and $10 IG00000751B. Both were found in straps. -tbud
Star notes will generally have a lowered serial number as they are replacements for sheet or series errors. The Bureau of Printing and Engraving is ordered to produce "X" number of bills of a series per year. During the production each sheet is inspected and what ever sheets that are not fit for circulation have to be pulled and an equal number of star notes are issued. The star notes do not replace the specific serial number that had been pulled from circulation but are serial sequenced to replace the total loss of circulated bills.