Star notes · fancy serials · print runs

Is that dollar worth more than a dollar?

Point your iPhone at any US bill. RareBill reads the serial number and tells you straight away whether it's a star note or a fancy serial that collectors pay for — the kind of note most people spend without ever looking.

Coming to the App Store

Your first 20 bills are free — the whole app, nothing held back.

K 1234 4321 ★
Jackpot · Radar · Star note

Reads the same backwards — and the star means it's a replacement note from a much smaller print run.

What makes a bill rare

Two things, and both are printed on the note.

You don't need to know anything about paper money. If your bill has either of these, it's worth more than its face value to somebody.

★ Star notes

When a note is damaged during printing, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing replaces it with one whose serial ends in a star instead of a letter. Roughly one note in a hundred. Some print runs are far smaller than others, and that's where the money is.

# Fancy serial numbers

Eight digits, and a small number of them fall into patterns collectors chase — solids, radars, ladders, repeaters, binaries, low numbers. RareBill knows sixteen of them and checks every one.

⛏ Print-run rarity

A star note from a run of 3,200,000 is ordinary. One from a run of 320,000 is not. RareBill looks your serial up in the Bureau's own monthly production reports, and in the published collector record going back to 1935 — 21,000 star runs, on your phone.

A few of the patterns
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Solid

Every digit the same. About as rare as serials get.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Ladder

The digits count straight up, or straight down.

1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1

Radar

Reads the same backwards as forwards.

7 4 6 2 7 4 6 2

Repeater

The second half repeats the first.

0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2

Low serial

Under 1,000 — and the fewer digits, the better.

1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0

Binary

Only two different digits in the whole serial.

How it works

Two seconds, no typing, no guessing.

1

Point at the bill

Fill the frame with the front of the note. The serial is read on your phone as you hold it — no shutter button, no photo to upload. Worn note? Type the serial instead.

2

Get the verdict

Star note, fancy serial, or neither — with the pattern drawn over the digits so you can see why. This part is arithmetic, not a guess, and every free check gives you the whole answer — ten of them a day.

3

Keep the good ones

Save a bill to your collection, share the result card, and — with Pro — see which print run it came from and what notes like it tend to sell for.

Pricing

Try it on your own bills first.

The first 20 scans are free and nothing is held back — print-run rarity, value ranges, the collection, stack mode, all of it. Check your own money, see whether it works for you, and only then decide. If you want to keep going it's $4.99, once.

First 20 scans

Free — the whole app, no account, no ads

  • Every feature — the same app a paying user gets
  • No ads, ever
  • Star-note detection
  • All 16 fancy-serial patterns
  • Shareable result card
  • Keep up to 10 bills
Pro

$4.99 once

unlimited scans, yours forever — no subscription

  • Print-run rarity from official BEP production reports
  • Value ranges with a link to live listings
  • Unlimited checks, and an unlimited collection with a portfolio total
  • Stack mode — rip through a bank strap without tapping
  • iCloud sync across your devices

No subscription, no renewal, nothing to cancel. You have already seen the whole app by the time you're asked to pay.

Values are estimates drawn from published collector guides and current listings — they are not appraisals, and they are not offers to buy. What a note actually sells for depends on its condition and who wants it that week.

Most people never look.

Check the change in your pocket. It takes two seconds and costs nothing.

Coming to the App Store