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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SteveInTampa, post: 1903080, member: 27107&quot;]After writing my first article published in the May-June edition of Paper Money Magazine, I&#039;ve&nbsp; made some interesting and amazing discoveries concerning the printing of United States currency on security paper manufactured by the Gilbert Paper Company, Menasha, Wisconsin. I now believe that not only series 1963 one dollar bills block C-A were printed on Gilbert paper, but series 1963A one dollar bills block G-G were also printed on Gilbert paper. Although I am unable to prove this from BEP records and documentation, I have been given hand written records from Gilbert Paper Company employees that document some of the serial numbers and to whom they were given to to be used as sales aids and prestigious mementos of the occasion.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Manufacturing security paper was nothing new for the Gilbert Paper Company. Gilbert had been exporting postage stamp paper to China in 1922 and small currency shipments soon thereafter. In the late 30&#039;s, when the Sino-Japanese War intensified the Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek ordered that all gold and silver be withdrawn from circulation to keep it from falling into Japanese hands. Paper currency thereby became the only legal tender in the worlds most populous nation. All of the paper to make that currency was made by Gilbert. The orders were large: in 1940, 300 tons were shipped ; the following year, shipments reached 20 tons per week, over one tenth of the total Gilbert production. The mammoth printing of paper currency set off&nbsp; an equally mammoth inflation. In time, it is probable that the one-cent Chinese bills were, literally not worth the cost of the premium Gilbert security paper on which they were printed. At the time, the orders helped move Gilbert back to full production, and a quarter century later, Gilbert would make currency paper that was put to better use.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Since the 1870&#039;s , all currency paper for the U.S. Federal government has been manufactured by Crane &amp; Company, Dalton, Massachusetts. In the early 1960&#039;s various government agencies became concerned</p><p><br /></p><p>that having only a single source for a vital commodity posed risks in the event of a catastrophe. The BEP was authorized to find a second qualified source for currency paper. Gilbert had credentials for the work, but did not push for the contract. That came largely from Hobson Miller, and authorized Gilbert distributor in New York who felt it would add prestige to the entire line and boost sales. When Gilbert management was asked if they could make U.S. Currency paper they replied , “If Crane can, we can.”, which set the application in motion. Currency paper is a very tricky sheet to make with a number of conflicting requirements. There&#039;s the soil test, and at the same time the sheet has to be strong enough to be double folded four thousand times. However,if you go to far on getting good folding characteristics, the paper becomes limp and soils too easily.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; In early 1963, Gilbert signed an &#039;educational contract&#039; with the government to make trial lots of security&nbsp; paper to be manufactured and printed into U.S. Currency one dollar bills. In total, Gilbert sold 300 tons of currency paper to the government over a four-year period. Manufacturing security paper used to make U.S. Currency brought Gilbert substantial pride and prestige, as such, they were probably the most effective one dollar sales aid ever presented.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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