About BEP 

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About BEP

Bureau of engraving and Printing 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

INTrOduCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 

HISTOry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 

PrINTINg BurEAu PrOduCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

	 Design anD engraving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 4 

	 Plate-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 4 

	 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 5 

CurrenCy examination,	overPrinting,	anD PaCkaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 5 

COuNTErFEITINg, rEPrOduCTION, ANd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

ANTI-COuNTErFEITINg MEASurES

MuTILATEd ANd dAMAgEd CurrENCy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 

TOurS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 

PuBLIC SALES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 
Invitation to attend inaugural 

ceremonies for the President of the 

united States, 1917 (plate proof) 

Member’s Pass to the Visitor’s 

gallery, House of representatives, 

1898 (approved plate proof) 

Cattlehide Export Ticket for $1,000, 

Bureau of International Commerce, 

Office of Export Control, department 

of Commerce, about 1972 

INTrOduCTION


The Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

(BEP), serves as the Federal Government’s most secure and efficient 

source of vital Government securities. 

The Bureau designs and produces a variety of security products. As the 

Government’s only source for paper currency production, the Bureau 

prints billions of Federal Reserve Notes for delivery to the Federal 

Reserve System each year (the Bureau does not produce coins; all 

coinage is produced by the United States Mint). In addition, the 

Bureau produces military commissions and award certificates; invitations 

and admission cards; and many different types of identification cards, 

forms, and other special security documents for a variety of Government 

agencies. With production facilities in Washington, DC, and Fort Worth, 

Texas, the Bureau is the largest producer of Government security 

documents in the United States. 

The Bureau’s research and development efforts focus on the continued 

use of automation in the production process and on counterfeit deterrent 

technologies for use in security documents, especially U.S. currency. The 

Bureau also advises other Federal agencies on document security matters. 

HISTOry 

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has its origins in legislation 

enacted to help fund the Civil War. In July 1861, Congress authorized 

the Secretary of the Treasury to issue paper currency in lieu of coin due 

to the lack of funds needed to support the conflict. The paper notes 

were essentially Government IOUs and were called Demand Notes 

because they were payable “on demand” in coin at certain Treasury 

facilities. At this time the Government had no facility for the 

production of paper money so a private firm produced the Demand 

Notes in sheets of four. These sheets were then sent to the Treasury 

Department where dozens of clerks signed the notes and scores of female 

workers cut the sheets and trimmed the notes by hand. Gradually, more 

and more work involving currency and Government obligations 

(bonds, notes and etc.), including their engraving and printing, devolved 

to the Treasury. 

Initially, the currency processing operations in the Treasury were not 

formally organized. When Congress created the office of Comptroller 

of the Currency and National Currency Bureau in 1863 to handle the 

newly created National Bank Notes, currency-processing operations 

2 Bureau of engraving and Printing 
were nominally subordinated to that agency and designated the “First 

Division, National Currency Bureau.” For years, however, the currency 

operations were known by various semi-official labels, such as the 

“Printing Bureau,” “Small Note Bureau,” “Currency Department,” 

and “Small Note Room.” It was not until 1874 that the “Bureau of 

Engraving and Printing” was officially recognized in congressional 

legislation with a specific allocation of operating funds for fiscal 

year 1875. 

In 1877, Congress mandated that the engraving and printing of notes, 

bonds, and other securities of the United States be performed solely at 

the Treasury Department. Up until that time, the Bureau in 

combination with private bank note companies produced various 

currency notes that included National Bank Notes and United States 

Notes. Other currency produced exclusively by the Bureau included 

Gold Certificates, Silver Certificates, and Treasury (or Coin) Notes. 

Federal Reserve Notes, originally issued in 1914, are the only currency 

notes still being issued today. In addition to U.S. currency, the Bureau 

has designed or produced, in whole or part, currency for the Philippines, 

the Republic of Cuba, South Korea, the Kingdom of Siam, and Eritrea. 

Throughout the course of its operations, the Bureau has designed and 

printed a variety of products in addition to currency. Other early items 

produced by the Bureau included various Government debt instruments 

such as interest-bearing notes, refunding certificates, compound interest 

Treasury notes, and bonds. In 1866, the Bureau began printing internal 

revenue stamps and, by 1878, it was producing almost all revenue 

stamps. Postage stamp production began in 1894. The Bureau has also 

produced invitations for Presidential inaugural ceremonies and memorial 

services as well as other souvenir items commemorating various events 

and expositions. During times of crisis the Bureau has printed special 

products that have included military payment certificates for American 

armed forces, currency and postage stamps for a number of Allied 

countries, and war bonds. 

The first home of the Bureau was at the Treasury Department at 1500 

Pennsylvania Avenue, where from 1861 to 1880 work was conducted 

primarily in the basement and attic of that building. In 1878, due to 

concerns over safety as well as the disruption the Bureau’s industrial 

operations brought to other offices within the Treasury Building, 

Congress appropriated funds for construction of a separate building. 

A section of land on the southwest corner of 14th Street and B Street 

(now Independence Avenue) was purchased that same year, and 

construction of the first Bureau building was completed in 1880. By 

1906, the Bureau had outgrown this facility and the decision was made 

to construct a building between 14th and 15th Streets, to the south 

aBout BeP	  

$1 Silver Certificate, Series 1899, face 

(approved model with annotations) 

Currency examination, 1904 

Vignette of 1880 Bureau of Engraving 

and Printing Building, 1901 (approved 

plate proof) 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

Annex building, 199 

Western Currency Facility, 

circa 1987–1991 

Charles r . Chickering, designer, 

early 1950s 

of the original building. The new structure, now known as the Main 

building of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, was completed in 

February 1914. 

By the mid 1920s, the need for another facility became apparent due 

in part to large Bureau production requirements related to World War I 

financing operations. In August 1935, Congress granted funds for a 

building on 14th Street between C and D Streets, opposite the Main 

building. Construction of the Bureau’s Annex building was completed 

in 1938. In 1985, the Bureau began a site search for an operating 

facility west of the Mississippi River that would meet increased currency 

production needs and act as a contingency operation in case of 

emergencies in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. In November 

1986, Fort Worth, Texas, was chosen to host the Bureau of Engraving 

and Printing’s Western Currency Facility (WCF). Currency production 

began in December 1990 at the WCF, and the official dedication took 

place on April 26, 1991. 

PrINTINg BurEAu PrOduCTS 

Design anD engraving 

Print production begins with the skill and artistry of the Bureau’s 

designers and engravers. Designers create a model of the printed product 

by combining images, text, and other graphic elements into a visually 

pleasing format. When products incorporate engraved elements — such 

as a portrait, vignette, ornament, or lettering — the Bureau’s engravers, 

working from the designer’s model, create these components of the 

design. By meticulously cutting extremely fine dots, dashes, and curved 

lines of varying depths and widths into a piece of soft steel, known as a 

master die, the engraver produces a very life-like and three-dimensional 

image on a two-dimensional surface. The art of engraving not only 

brings a unique beauty to the Bureau’s printed products but also serves 

a more pragmatic function as an anti-counterfeiting measure. While 

it is the complexity of engraved lines that give such products a visual 

richness, it is also this technique that makes them extremely difficult 

to replicate. 

Plate-making 

When the artwork or engraved master dies are completed and approved, 

depending on the method of printing, they are then converted into an 

appropriate format for reproduction. Utilizing various technologies, 

multiple images of the originals are created and transferred to the master 

4 Bureau of engraving and Printing 
printing plates. From the master plates, working plates are created. 

From the working plates, the final printed products are generated. 

Printing 

The Bureau utilizes a number of different printing methods for 

producing its various products. These include intaglio, gravure, and 

offset. 

In the intaglio process ink is applied to an engraved plate that is wiped 

clean leaving ink in the recessed lines or grooves. The inked plate is 

pressed against a sheet of paper using heavy pressure, forcing the paper 

into the grooves of the plate, picking up the ink, and transferring 

the engraved image onto the paper. The printed surface feels slightly 

raised, while the reverse side feels slightly indented. Gravure printing 

consists of a pattern of tiny etched dots on the printing plate; ink held 

inside the tiny dots is lifted up when paper is pressed against the plate, 

as in the intaglio method. In offset production, the image is lifted off 

the printing plate onto a rubber blanket by means of chemical 

attraction/repulsion and then transferred or offset to the paper. 

Until recently, intaglio was the primary method used by the Bureau for 

printing currency. However, with the introduction of subtle background 

color to Series 2004 notes, a combination of intaglio and offset is 

employed. Intaglio is used to print the engraved portions of the note 

and offset is used to print the background color. 

CurrenCy examination, overPrinting, anD PaCkaging 

Each printed currency sheet containing multiple impressions of notes 

is examined for defects. If the sheet meets the electronic inspection 

standards, it is then ready for numbering and processing. Using the 

Bureau’s overprinting and processing equipment, the Federal Reserve 

Seal, the Treasury Seal, and serial numbers are added to each note. 

Stacks of 100 sheets are ultimately cut into one-note units and then 

banded and packaged into bricks of 40 units (or 4,000 notes). The 

bricks are distributed to one of the 12 Federal Reserve banks, which 

issues the notes to local banks. 

aBout BeP	 5 

Currency plate inspection 

Printing currency on a four-plate flatbed power press, late 1940s 

Harris two-color offset press, 1940s 

Currency processing 
Currency plates, master die, and 

transfer roll 

COuNTErFEITINg, 

rEPrOduCTION, ANd ANTICOuNTErFEITINg MEASurES 

The law sharply restricts reproductions of paper currency as well as other 

security documents of the United States. The following actions are in 

violation of Title 18 of the United States Code: 

■ Manufacturing counterfeit United States currency or altering 

genuine currency to increase its value; 

■ Possession of counterfeit United States obligations with fraudulent 

intent; 

■ Forging, altering, or trafficking in United States Government checks, 

bonds, or other obligations; 

■ Defacement of currency (generally defined as: Whoever mutilates, 

cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any 

other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt 

issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve bank, or 

Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to 

be reissued); 

■ Making or distributing business cards, notices, or advertisements in 

the likeness of United States obligations or securities. 

Printed reproductions, including photographs, of paper currency and 

other securities of the United States and foreign governments are also 

violations of Title 18 of the United States Code, except under the 

following conditions: 

■ The illustration must be of a size less than three-fourths or more 

than one and one-half, in linear dimension, of each part of any 

matter so illustrated; 

■ The illustration must be one sided; 

■ All negatives, plates, digitized storage media, graphic files, magnetic 

media, optical storage devices, and any other thing used in the 

making of the illustration that contain an image of the illustration 

or any part thereof shall be destroyed and/or deleted or erased after 

their final use. 

The Secret Service has jurisdiction over investigations involving the 

counterfeiting of United States securities and works closely with state, 

local, and foreign law enforcement agencies to aggressively pursue 

counterfeiters. The Secret Service also maintains a working relationship 

6	 Bureau of engraving and Printing 
with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Federal Reserve 

System to ensure the integrity of our currency. 

The Bureau is responsible for producing currency that incorporates 

counterfeit deterrents. Microprinting (fine lettering that is invisible to 

the naked eye but readable using low-power magnification and difficult 

to reproduce on most current copiers) and a translucent security thread 

were first added to currency in 1991. Later, Series 1996 currency also 

incorporated color-shifting ink that changes color when viewed from 

different angles; a watermark; fine-line printing patterns that appear 

normal to the unaided eye but are difficult for copiers and scanners 

to replicate; and additional security features to address counterfeiting 

threats posed by advances in color reproduction equipment and processes. 

With Series 2004 currency, subtle background colors were introduced, 

adding complexity to the design and making the note more difficult 

to counterfeit. 

MuTILATEd ANd dAMAgEd 

CurrENCy 

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing redeems partially destroyed or 

badly damaged currency as a free public service. The Office of Currency 

Standards uses experts to examine mutilated currency and approve the 

issuance of a Treasury check for the value of the currency determined to 

be redeemable. The amount of time needed to process currency claims 

varies with the extent of the damage and the workload of the examiner. 

What is mutilated currency? Currency notes which are clearly less than 

one-half of the original note and/or in such condition that the value is 

questionable and special examination is required to determine its value. 

The most common causes of currency mutilation are fire; water; 

chemicals; explosives; animal, insect or rodent damage; and petrification 

or deterioration by burying. Mutilated currency may be mailed or 

personally delivered to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and should 

include a letter stating the estimated value of the currency and an 

explanation of how the currency became mutilated. 

What is not mutilated currency? Any badly soiled, dirty, defaced, 

disintegrated, limp, torn, or worn-out currency note that is clearly more 

than one-half of the original note, and does not require special 

examination to determine its value. These notes should be exchanged 

through your local bank. 

aBout BeP	 7 

Examples of mutilated and damaged 

currency 
Currency processing 

Multi-subject currency plate 

Vignette of the Lincoln Memorial 

TOurS 

Tours of Bureau facilities feature the various steps of currency 

production beginning with large blank sheets of paper and ending with 

wallet-ready bills. Current information about tours may be obtained 

from the Bureau’s website (www.moneyfactory.gov) or by telephoning 

the Bureau at 1-866-874-2330 for Washington, DC, tours and 

1-866-865-1194 for Fort Worth, Texas, tours. 

PuBLIC SALES 

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing also offers a number of premium 

products for sale. These include vignettes of historic monuments and 

sites, Presidential and Chief Justice portraits, as well as note cards 

featuring the engraved images of some of the Nation’s most popular 

landmarks: the Capitol, the Department of the Treasury, the White 

House, and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Uncut sheets of 

currency, star notes, commemorative posters and more, as well as 

souvenir cards featuring reprints of exquisite, collectible historic and 

antique engravings are also available. Products may be purchased online 

at the Bureau’s website (www.moneyfactory.gov), in person at a Bureau 

Visitor Center, or by telephoning the Bureau at 1-800-456-3408. 

(Please note that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing does not sell old 

or rare currencies or other security items. The Bureau cannot offer 

appraisals regarding the value of such items.) 

8 Bureau of engraving and Printing 
Cover images 

Bureau of engraving and Printing horse-drawn wagon taking money to the Treasury, 


about 1910


admission card to inauguration of William mcKinley, 1897 (approved plate proof)


salmon P. Chase, 1873 (die proof)


admission ticket to Woodrow Wilson memorial exercise, 1924 (approved plate proof)


vignette of the Bureau of engraving and Printing, main building, 1950s/1960s


Postage stamp “Western Cattle in storm,” Trans-mississippi exposition/“omaha” 


series, 1898

www.money factor y.gov

department of the treasury