I don’t know anything about the asterisk, YET, but I found this:
7.3L IDI 1988-1994
Block c/n 10809000C1 was used for the entire 7.3L IDI years of production. The serial numbers for naturally aspirated applications are 500,079 through 1,116,330.
Mine is: 73DU2U509783, which, I believe, was...