I appreciate the reply Rupiah I thought if anyone would reply it would be you and I would say they are quite similar. Have a look
True they do look similar. Very strange. The notes by my calculation would have a FP/BP of 39/20 and 43/38 so they are not even at the same position. The only thing on the face corresponding to that location is the litho of the flag pattern. So not sure how such a consistently similar pattern can manifest.
I have examined many $5 journey notes and I have not seen a single one like the one you shared.
Does looking through a 10x loupe reveal anything that might suggest it is extra ink on litho v/s some ink mark left from an unclean substrate or transferred from adjacent note.
If I were to take a wild guess, sometimes in a photo (as opposed to a scan) a very very shallow undulation might also show up as a pattern like that. Such undulations could be caused by things like paper clips, something heavy in that shape etc. that may have been placed over the notes.
Or it might be something similar on the holder itself.
I am sure you may have already checked such apparent things out and ruled them out.
If you find out what's happening please share with us or if you are able to scan that portion at a higher resolution then it might give more hints.
Thx for sharing.