Recently I was on e-bay and I noticed these notes being sold for $19.99. I feel rather sad.
Here is the reality.
The star condition exists on every (or almost every) note (i.e. it is the way the notes are) from prefix HPD to HPS.
- I agree (& thanks for sharing Rupiah). It is always disappointing to see others exploiting unsuspecting buyers on ebay (whether it be over grading, "gold leaf" stamps on the Centennial 1967 $1 or this). It really has a huge negative impact on the hobby.
The missing ink which causes a couple of star-like white spots on the hockey stick of the 2006 $5 is mentioned on p323 of CGPM-31
but they do not suggest a premium. The small write up on them suggest these notes:
"do not result from a deliberate design modification. They are therefore not assigned separate catalogue listing.
The defect was too minor to prevent the notes from passing quality control review so they are not considered error notes. Some collectors
may nevertheless wish to include them in their collections, as they did with
the somewhat analogous "missing circle" $10 notes."
I just underlined/emphasized how they make it quite clear that if you wish to collect these- that it's completely up to you. (I have also seen several of these notes too but have never considered them as anything special). They are way too common to be given a premium (much more common than the missing circle $10 I believe).