Well, Federal Paper Money was printed in 1862, but when were star notes first used? Was it in the very beginning, or was it used later on? thanks
Magman it was after 1908 when instances occured that in which some notes were misprinted or had to be destroyed and replaced, the SN on the face of the replacement notes were preceded or followed by a *. Hence the name star notes and today form a separate speciality for collectors. This is but a short but accurate statement. I am sure someone else will come along and elaborate quite a bit. RickieB
Magman, This is the eBay guide to star notes..http://reviews.ebay.com/Complete-Guide-to-Collecting-U-S-Currency-Star-Notes_W0QQugidZ10000000001354201. Seems to be the same as what I have in my Ken Bressett book...............John
I have sold 1899 $1 Black Eagles & 1899 $5 Indian Chief notes that have been star notes. I cant seem to find info on when Large size star notes began but I do think it was before 1899 but I could be wrong . I know for a fact though that I have seen & sold star notes older than 1908.
Bud...stars back then were not really star notes as we know them today. The stars were just simply SN ending symbols. Look at my thread about Symbols and you will see what I mean! RickieB
The star has had another use besides that of a replacement note. A star note has been used for the 100,000,000th note in a series. The reason is numbering machines cannot print over eight digits. Lou
I did just read the thread ,Thanks But I still have to disagree Here is the excerpt from Heritage "Replacement Chiefs have always been difficult items to obtain. The most recent Murray census lists only nine star notes for this signature combination." "The note I sold back in May was the 15th to be discovered I believe. Here is a link to the Heritage auction & here is the picture from that auction. http://currency.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=3502&Lot_No=15622&src=pr I do know that the star was just a suffix symbol on many notes . But from everything I am seeing these were actually replacments. But - I have been known to be wrong & you of all members here would be more athorative on the subject than I.
The first star notes were printed in 1910--but those were Series 1899 $1 silvers, because that series was still in production in 1910 (indeed, until 1923). I *think* that the earliest series date appearing on a star note is 1880, on some $20 USNs. Those would've been printed in the late nineteen-teens, since they've got Teehee-Burke signatures. There might've been an even earlier date that I missed, though--some of the large-size notes kept the same series date for quite a few decades, making it a bit difficult to keep track. As Rickie already noted, there were three large-size series that used a solid star as the suffix character on *all* notes: the 1869 USNs, and the 1890 and 1891 CNs. These are not "star notes". All large-size star replacement notes use a hollow-center star, not a solid star. The bit about the 100,000,000th note is anachronistic in this thread: During the large-size era, the 100,000,000th note actually had serial number 100000000, with nine digits. Some of the earliest small-size notes used this number too.... It had to be stamped on the note by hand, since the automatic numbering equipment didn't have enough digits to print it. The automatic numbering just printed 00000000, and that note had to be pulled and replaced by the hand-prepared 100000000. Sometime in the 1930s the BEP decided that it wasn't worth the trouble, so they just declared the 00000000 note to be an "error", and started replacing it by a star note just like they'd do for any other error. (And since 1977, the serial numbering in each block doesn't go all the way to 99999999 anyway, so there's no longer any issue of what to do for the 100,000,000th note.)
Yes, that's a replacement note. From the Parker-Burke signatures, it was probably printed in about 1914. See here for the serial numbering of the 1899 $5 silvers; it might clarify what's going on with this note....
I remember reading that on large notes the star was just used as a symbol, but when the star had a hole in the middle the note was a replacement note or star note. Lou
