Man reveals hidden meaning of tiny star on certain bills

Before you spend another dollar, you might want to read this.

TikTok user Silverpicker recently explained the significance of the tiny stars printed on certain U.S. banknotes, as well as what the symbol means for the value of the currency.

“These are ordinary dollar bills from the U.S., right?” he says in the clip, which has since been viewed over 600,000 times. “Nope. Wrong. These are actually what are called ‘star notes.’ Star notes are any dollar bills that have a little star next to the serial number.”

“And no, those are not there just by chance,” he explains. “This means that when these dollar bills were originally produced with these same serial numbers, they were damaged during the production process so they had to be reprinted. But in the United States, it’s illegal to print the same bill twice with the same serial number. So the second ones — the replacements — need to have a little star next to them. And that makes these rarer than an average dollar bill.”

Silverpicker also shares a website where you can look up your star note’s serial number to learn exactly how rare it is — and apparently, the much rarer bills can sell for a pretty penny to collectors on sites like eBay, Heritage Auctions and Mercari.

“This one is actually pretty rare,” he says after looking up a star note in his possession. “And this one you can actually sell for a bunch of money. Don’t believe me? Check Ebay’s sold listings. This one sold for 32 bucks. Look through your wallets, people!”

If you’re perusing your wallet and discover one of these rare notes, it might be cause for excitement — so long as the bill is in decent condition.

“The rarest star note probably isn’t worth much, if anything, more than face value if it’s dirty and shredded,” MyCurrencyCollector.com explains.

Check out these guidelines to try and maximize your star note’s selling potential.

If you enjoyed this article, check out this “holy grail” Pokémon card expected to sell for over $100,000.

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