Stumbled across Aladin's 2 replies in Excelforum
(think his replies there somehow didn't propagate over ..)

Interesting deliberation. I presume you didn't see:
http://www.excelforum.com/printthread.php?t=320974

An his earlier post ..
If not inconvenient, go with R.VENKATARAMAN's suggestion.
Otherwise:
=SUM(IF(ISNUMBER(SUBSTITUTE(D5:D35,"*","")+0),SUBS TITUTE(D5:D35,"*","")+0,0)
)

which must be confirmed with control+shift+enter
instead of just with enter

--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
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GMT+8, 1° 22' N 103° 45' E
xdemechanik <atyahoo<dotcom
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