BEP Fort Worth

Thousands of the new 100 dollar bills fly through printing presses at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth. Very cool.

From a glass walled walkway above the production floor at the Western Currency Facility we watched blank paper being transformed to vacuum packed bails of finished “notes”.

It is an ever more complex process as increasingly sophisticated anti-counter-fit features are added.

 

Unfortunately, no free samples.

 

Their currency museum is worth a visit too. It traces the evolution of paper currency and its manufacturing methods as well as interpreting the social/political changes that are reflected in its evolution.

 

Between the tour and the museum they share lots of fun factoids. Here are a few I found pretty interesting.

Only two locations print bills – this one and one in DC

This plant will print over 7 billion notes in 2015 and most of those are to just replace worn out money.

It costs about 10 cents each to print a note (ones and twos cost half that)

No bills bigger than $100 have been issued since 1969.

Martha Washington was on a Silver Certificate note.

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