Making Benjamins by the millions

At the Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas, two Bureau of Engraving and Printing technicians hold up sheets of newly-printed $100 bills. Daniel Terdiman/CNET

FORT WORTH, Texas -- I've got $1.6 million in my hands, and it's hot.

But this 37-pound "cash pack" -- a total of 16,000 brand-new $100 bills -- isn't stolen. It's actually hot, having just seconds earlier emerged from a shrink-wrapping machine that had heated the plastic wrap to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

All about the Benjamins: Making the $100 bill (pictures) See full gallery