Types of Notes

The Star Note Lookup tool has one column of types it shows “REGULAR” and “SHEETS”. However if you have both the notes there is no visible difference in between them. The actually difference is in printing process of both and it is helpful in determing the rarity of a note.

Before I start explaining the difference between them you should have basic understanding of how currency is printed. As per the bep.gov the notes are printed in sheets of 32 or 50. The sheets are then into packs of 100 that are then cut into 100 packs of consecutive serial numbers.

Sheet Print Type- Before Cutting

Let suppose something went wrong in the process on printing due to some error in the bep automated systems. The note get folded or over inked etc then that sheet is pulled out of the stack and replaced with a single sheet.The stacks then continue to print , cut, packed, wrapped and shipped to Federal Reserve Bank. They are typically printed in lower quality usually 640000 notes or less per run. That’s why this star note come into circulation more randomly.

Regular Print Type- After Cutting

The sheets are cut into pack of 100 then it go into a process a bep reporter or an automated system will check the packs and if he finds a damaged pack of notes. it is then replaced with the pack of 100 star note these are considered “Regular” star notes.

These star notes are printed in large number typically 1.28 million notes up to the maximum run size of 3.2 million. These are usually found in the pack of 100.