I never knew that I could watch our money being printed on a press!  This was one of the most fascinating tours you will ever see.  Right down town Washington D.C. is a building called the Bureau of Engraving that you can enter and have a tour of the printing presses that made your dollar bill.  You get to watch all the different steps that go into printing our money from a second floor walkway that views down into the printing press rooms. 

The paper starts out very large – so big, that thirty-two, one dollar bills can be printed on it. To be loaded onto the press sat a huge pile of this large paper. Upon each stack would be printed 33 million dollars. They showed us what the paper looks like, up close, before the printing began (there is a faint hologram on it – a security bar). Then we watched as the paper made its way through the press, printing thirty-two, one dollar bills on each sheet. Next, came the cutting process; first, into sixteen (half); then into eight twos; and finally into singles. 

 The paper stock comes from a company in New England by the name of Crane.  I found it incredibly interesting that the dollar bill is not made from paper – it’s made of 75% cotton and 25 % linen.  Is that amazing, or what?  I never knew that! My mom said that now she finally understood why the laundry machine never ruined money that got left in the pockets. 

There is a computer scan on each section of the press and cutting process looking for defects.  In the gift shop I was able to purchase an inexpensive souvenir of some shredded money – money that did not pass the inspection of the computer presses that showed some irregularity.

This was a totally educational tour, even for us grown ones. I think that the only thing I didn’t like about this tour was that they didn’t give us any free samples...