History of BEP - where US Dollars bills are printed

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Fig 1 : Cover of BEP History booklet

Ever wonder who prints the US Dollar bills? It's NOT the U.S. Mint as most of you think. That task goes to the "U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing" or fondly know as the "BEP".

There is an interesting booklet of 36 pages, in downloadable PDF form, that chronicles the history of the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving since the Civil War in 1860s.  It is a different entity from the US Mint, which produces the US coins. Both agencies are under the US Department of Treasury.

If you want to understand how banknotes or "Dollar bills" are produced, this booklet will give you a good idea how it's done.

When BEP first started out, those banknotes were printed by private firms and then sent to the BEP in sheets of 4 to be hand cut and trimmed. Those days, the signatures were hand signed ! Sheets of 32 which we are all familiar with came much later. There is also an timeline that summarizes the history of BEP, from 1861 to 2005.  Lots of interesting information, complete with many photos that gives good insight into the business of making money. The booklet is free and you can access it here.

Fig 2. Sheets of 32 Dollar bills, 1961. Courtesy of BEP.

There is also an interactive page dedicated to "money making" i.e. "How money is made" page here.

Fig 3. "How Money is Made" page at BEP wbsite.

This is another subsection of the website that covers the security, history and how to authenticate your US Dollar bills. You can access it here.

Enjoy reading and Happy Collecting !

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