FAQ
Short answers about star notes, rarity scores, guide ranges, fancy serials, and public passports on StarNote Atlas.
What is StarNote Atlas?
A free place to look up U.S. paper money and keep a public record of notes worth logging. Star notes, fancy serials, and older seals each get a passport: the serial, the series, and whatever else is known about that note.
The site does not buy, sell, or appraise notes.
What is a star note?
A replacement. When a sheet is spoiled, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints another and ends the serial with a star instead of a letter. The star is not a grade and it does not set a price.
How do I look up a note?
Note lookup asks for the denomination, the series year printed on the note, and the serial. Check the star box when the serial ends in a star. A star lookup returns a rarity score when a print run is on file, and a published guide range when the guide has one. A regular note from a series we track is identified as COPE or conventional printing.
The Fancy Serial Number Checker reads the eight digits only. It does not need an account, a series year, or a star.
What does the rarity score mean?
The score comes from the size of the print run that contains the serial. A run of 320,000 notes or fewer scores 100 and is labeled ultra rare. Up to 1,280,000 scores 75, very rare. Up to 3,200,000 scores 50, scarce. Up to 9,600,000 scores 25, common. A larger run scores 5, abundant. A block sold only as uncut sheets is scored the same way, from the size of that block.
Grade, centering, and demand are not in the number. Two notes from the same run share a score even when one is worn and one is crisp.
Why is there no print run for a star?
The lookup says why. A series earlier than the tables, such as 1934A, has no monthly run on file. Tables cover Federal Reserve star notes printed August 1974 through August 2026. A serial can also sit outside the blocks those reports list for its series and prefix.
The star on the note still counts. Silver Certificates, red seals, and blocks newer than the tables can still be replacements.
What is a guide range?
A published dollar range for that series and type, taken from auction and retail results. It is not an appraisal or an offer. Condition, district, and demand move the price a note actually brings, and the figures go stale.
A fancy serial and a star can each match, and both ranges show. The fancy range is for the serial pattern. The star range is for a star of that series without the pattern.
What is a fancy serial?
A pattern in the eight digits that collectors notice: a low number, a radar, a repeater, a ladder, a binary, or a solid. The pattern is about the digits. It is separate from the star and from the seal color.
Are the notes I save public?
Yes. Every saved note is public, including the username, the note details, a found city and state if you enter them, and the display photos. Price paid and private notes stay off the passport. Original camera files are not kept.
Skip found city and state if you do not want a place joined to your collector name.
How do I delete my account?
Email privacy@starnoteatlas.com from the address you use to sign in and ask for the account to be deleted. You can delete a single note while signed in without closing the account. Signing out leaves the public collection in place.