Encyclopedia Numismatica

Today's topic will be older United States currency: Series 1963 to 1995. From Series 1963 until Series 1988A, every single United States banknote did not have any security markings, such as a watermark, security strip, or micro printing. As a result, the U.S government recently began withdrawing such notes following concerns about counterfeiting. With Series 1990, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing introduced new banknotes into circulation with a security strip, and notes that had a security strip were of the denomination $10 and above. Soon after, with the introduction of the 1996 series for each denomination of US currency (other than the $1 note and $2 note), the older 1960s-1990s paper money series was quickly forgotten. These notes are still legal tender, although they can be exchanged for newer currency at any bank upon request. Since older banknotes have not been equipped with some of the more sophisticated anti-counterfeiting technology, it seems to be harder to authen...

For the very first post on this blog, I will explain what a star note is. Star notes are replacement notes issued by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in order to supplement banknotes damaged during production. Star notes are a lot more rare than ordinary notes, and can be distinguished by the star at the end of the serial number, instead of the typical block letter: A, B, C, etc. (as seen in the top picture). However, there are several star notes that are more readily desired because of their extremely low printings. Star notes can be classified as "rare" if there were 640,000 or less printed. Even though many star notes are still a lot more rare than ordinary notes, many common runs of over 1,000,000 are not widely collected, and therefore not as valuable. For collectors, the most desirable stars are lower denomination notes, especially $1 bills. Higher denomination, modern star banknotes usually struggle to carry a premium, simply because there is so much value tied...