Are All Western Facility (Ft Worth) FRNs Printed by The BEP?

chiefbob

When I'm looking at the Friedberg catalog and see the low print runs that were produced at Fort Worth, should I assume that they were BEP notes made for collectors? I don't see any notation that they were made and sold at The Money Store and want to avoid those as another of my assumptions is that they were bought by collectors and kept in pristine condition for the most part.

Do any of the catalogs indicate this?

Thanks,

Bob

luckybucks

The BEP has two branches: Washington D.C., and Fort Worth, so yes.



This news story is the reason for the opening of the Fort Worth facility: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90

chiefbob

Thanks, Lucky. Although the crash of Air Florida doesn't correlate to the BEP at FW? Were a lot of DC BEP notes on board, ergo the decision to open a Western facility? Or did I miss something in the report?



I remember the crash quite well and saw the tv coverage. It was really tragic and should never have happened.

Steve_in_Tampa

Originally posted by: chiefbob

When I'm looking at the Friedberg catalog and see the low print runs that were produced at Fort Worth, should I assume that they were BEP notes made for collectors?

No. Both the Washington DC and Fort Worth Facilities print low print runs not necessarily for collectors but for general circulation.

DanCong

Wikipedia is a little clearer


Fort Worth location[edit]



In 1987, construction on a second facility, located in Fort Worth, Texas, began. In addition to meeting increased production requirements, a western location was seen to serve as a contingency operation in case of emergencies in the DC metropolitan area; additionally, costs for transporting currency to Federal Reserve banks in San Francisco, Dallas, and Kansas City would be reduced. Currency production began in December 1990 at the Fort Worth facility, and the official dedication took place on April 26, 1991. Any currency printed at Fort Worth includes a small "FW", usually located to the left of the bill's face plate number, and most also have larger back plate numbers.[7]

luckybucks

From what I understand, the plane crashed not too far from the BEP. The FW branch was built (originally) as an emergency facility in case some event stopped currency production at the Washington branch.