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.

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Spink Book Launch : Commemorating The Frank Goon Collection of Banknotes of British Malaya

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For someone staying in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it is a 5 hour road trip from here to the southern tip of the peninsular, Singapore. But is was well worth it, when one's goal is to get a much anticipated and perhaps this years' most important and significant book on numismatics - the 2nd edition of "Frank Goon Collection of Banknotes of British Malaya" published by Spink & Sons.

Image courtesy of Spink & Sons

This large format volume is no ordinary book. The book itself weighs in at close to 3kgs, contains 485 pages in full color, 28cm wide x 28cm high and 3.5cm thick. Most importantly, it contains high resolution photos of Mr. Frank Goon's personal collection of rare banknotes of the British Malaya, meticulously accumulated over the last 30 years. Incidentally, Mr. Frank Goon is the CEO/Managing Director of one the companies under the Kuok Group, which is owned by Mr. Robert Kuok, the richest man in South East Asia since 2002, with a net worth of more than US$10.5 billion.

The collection covers a wide time period of the colonial rule of the peninsular and its surrounding territories; from the era of the Straits Settlements to pre-war King George VI to the post-war Queen Elizabeth prints. That's from 1826 onwards.

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