Facts and Trivia About Money

Whatever you choose to call it, whether it be bucks, green backs, cash or just plain old money, I'll bet a lot of us really do not know very much about the money we all work so hard to have. While browsing the Internet one day, I stumbled across the website for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The BEP is responsible for design, engraving and printing of all U.S. paper currency. Anything about money interests me so I stayed at the website for awhile and learned some interesting facts.

The BEP was established in 1862. Back then six people, working in a basement room of the Treasury building, separated and sealed notes by hand. There are about 2,800 people doing it today between the BEP's two facilities in Washington, D.C. and Fort Worth, Texas. And of course, there is automation in the production process now. Even with all the new technologies though, their engravers still use some of the traditional tools that have been used for over 125 years.

Approximately 18 tons of ink per day are used between the two facilities and during the fiscal year of 2007 they would have produced about 38 million notes a day with face values of about 750 million dollars!

I was more interested in the fun facts and trivia section. For instance, did you know that Martha Washington was the only woman whose portrait was on a U.S. currency note? Or that if you had 10 billion $1 bills and spent one every second of each day, it would take you 317 years to go broke! Wow! Also, the U.S. government has never devalued our money. Any form of U.S. issued paper money since 1861 is considered legal tender and could be redeemed at face value.

My favorite fact though is the one about Abraham Lincoln and the Secret Service. It states that during Lincoln's term in office more than one-third of U.S. currency was counterfeit. Lincoln started a commission to look into the counterfeiting problem and that commission eventually became the United States Secret Service. This one almost makes me want to read up on Lincoln's presidency and find out what other interesting bits of trivia there might be.