Knowing what your paper money will be worth is the most important part of the serial number. The seal's style was modified to include an English inscription and appears on all Federal Reserve notes from 1969 to later. The face plate and back plate numbers identify the printing plates used to print each side of the note. The note position letter and number indicate which position on a plate a note was printed in for denominations 2, 5, 10, 20, $50, and $100. The note includes a seal identifying one of the 12 Federal Reserve banks for denominations $1 and $2. The series year indicates the year in which a new design was approved by the Treasury Secretary or the year in which the signature of a new secretary or treasurer was embedded into the scheme. Beginning with Series 1996, two letters rather than one at the start of the serial number indicate where the serial number appears at the beginning of the serial number. A star note has its own serial number and a celebrity in place of a suffix letter. At the time of a series of shifts, the suffix letter returns to the letter A and repeats the cycle. The first letter of such a serial number is identified the note's is the first letter in such a series. The Federal Reserve Bank that issued the note is identified in the first letter, which is always between A and L since there are 12 FRBs, this letter is always between A and L.
All Federal Reserve notes had serial numbers consisting of one letter, eight digits, and one letter, such as A12345678B today only the $1 and $2 notes use this format. Each Federal Reserve note includes identifiers that reveal details about the note, such as identifying the year in which the note's design was approved.