Crane Currency

Stephen Crane was the first in the Crane family to become a papermaker, buying his first mill, "The Liberty Paper Mill," in 1770.{{cite web|url=http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=History |title=Crane's - History |accessdate=2007-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815145349/http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=History |archive-date=2007-08-15 |url-status=dead }} He sold currency-type paper to engraver Paul Revere, who printed paper money for the American Colonies. In 1801, Crane was founded by Zenas Crane, Henry Wiswall and John Willard. It was the very first paper mill in the United States west of the Connecticut River.{{cite book |last=Basbanes |first=Nicholas |date=2014 |title=On paper: The everything of its two-thousand-year history |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Bpooks |isbn=978-0-307-27964-4}} The company's original mill had a daily output of 20 posts (1 post = 125 sheets). Shortly after, in 1801, Crane began making cotton currency paper for local, as well as regional banks. In 1844 Crane developed a method to embed parallel silk threads in banknote paper to denominate notes and deter counterfeiting.

In 1879, Crane grew when Winthrop M. Crane won a contract to deliver U.S. currency paper to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. To shore up resources for this contract, Crane expanded its capacity with four new mills engineered by world-renowned mill architect David H. Tower. Tower, a native of Dalton, would remain connected to the development of the company throughout his career, having gotten his first start in mill architecture working as an apprentice to rebuild Zena Crane's Red Mill in 1846.{{cite book |editor-last1=Lockwood|editor-first1=John H.|editor-last2=Bagg|editor-first2=Ernest Newton|editor-last3=Carson|editor-first3=Walter S.|editor-last4=Riley|editor-first4=Herbert E.|editor-last5=Boltwood|editor-first5=Edward|editor-last6=Clark|editor-first6=Will L.|chapter=Tower, David Horatio|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/westernmassachus04lock#page/848/mode/2up|url=https://archive.org/stream/westernmassachus04lock#page/n7/mode/2up|volume=IV|title=Western Massachusetts, A History 1636-1925|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing, Inc.|location=New York & Chicago|year=1926|oclc=988211712|quote=[A]t the age of thirteen years [he] became an apprentice of a local millwright. In 1846 he was employed on work being done in connection with the rebuilding of the old Red Mill, erected at Dalton...by Zenas Crane...Among the mills designed by Mr. Tower are the four Crane paper mills at Dalton, in which all the money paper for the United States Government has been made for over forty years.}}

Crane produced both the yellow (issued in 1883–1884) and the white (1884–1894) watermarked security papers for the nation's Postal Notes. These early money orders were produced for sale throughout the postal system by the Homer Lee Bank Note Company (1883–1887), the American Bank Note Company (1887–1891), and Dunlap & Clarke (1891–1894). In 1922, Crane & Co. incorporated, with Frederick G. Crane elected as president.

In 2002, Crane purchased the company Tumba Bruk from the Central Bank of Sweden (Riksbank) and operates this today as Crane AB.

In 2016, Crane announced plans to build a new banknote printing facility and customer experience center in the country of Malta. This announcement was delivered by then Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The facility is 15,000 square meters in size with space for three print lines. The facility, budgeted at US $100 million, started operations in spring of 2018.{{cite news |title=Currency printer to open $100m facility in Malta, Prime Minister announces |url=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160921/local/currency-printer-to-open-100m-facility-in-malta-prime-minister.625710 |work=Times of Malta |access-date=2016-09-22 }}

In 2017 Crane Currency was sold to Crane Co.,{{cite news |last=Dobrowolski |first=Tony |date=December 5, 2017 |title=Crane Currency to be sold for $800 million |url=http://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/crane-currency-to-be-sold-for-800-million,526299 |work=The Berkshire Eagle |location=Pittsfield, MA |access-date=2017-12-06 }} now known as Crane Holdings.

In 2023, Crane Currency and its sister company Crane Payment Innovations (CPI) formed Crane NXT (NYSE: 'CXT') separating from Crane Co. (NYSE: 'CR').

Originally, the operations making paper for writing and for currency were closely related, however they became more independent over the decades. By the 2010s, the company had been making stationery items in North Adams, Massachusetts for some time, while the currency business was centered in Dalton. Stationery sales accounted for less than 10% of the company's revenue. In 2015, the company spun off its stationery division, via a management buyout. The new company retained the North Adams factory, as well as Crane & Co. and related trademarks.{{cite news |last=Dobrowolski |first=Tony |date=December 10, 2015 |title=Crane stationery division to break off from currency operations |work=The Berkshire Eagle |location=Pittsfield, MA |url=https://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29225922/crane-stationery-division-break-off-from-currency-operations/ |access-date=2021-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151213033442/https://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29225922/crane-stationery-division-break-off-from-currency-operations/ |archive-date=2015-12-13}} In 2018, Mohawk Fine Papers purchased Crane Stationery. Mohawk is a family-owned company headquartered in Cohoes, New York.{{Cite web |last=Dobrowolski |first=Tony |date=2018-04-05 |title=Crane Stationery sold to Mohawk Fine Papers in New York |url=https://www.berkshireeagle.com/archives/crane-stationery-sold-to-mohawk-fine-papers-in-new-york/article_39157d53-ea7d-57e3-8fcc-50227c2188fc.html |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=The Berkshire Eagle |language=en}} In 2020, Mohawk announced its intention to close the North Adams factory, citing market disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Noting that some paper companies had fared quite well during the pandemic, the chief executive of Mohawk said "If you are making toilet paper, you are a winner..." Mohawk planned to manufacture items under the Crane trademarks at its Cohoes factory.{{Cite web |last=Cooper |first=Robin K. |date=July 17, 2020 |title=Mohawk moving up to $20 million in manufacturing work from Massachusetts to New York |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2020/07/17/mohawk-moving-crane-paper-production-to-new-york.html |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=Albany Business Review}} In March of 2024 Crane was sold to WP Strategic Holdings, a private investment and consulting firm based in Albany, NY.[http://wps.holdings]

In 1960, Advertising Age noted an advertising campaign for Crane writing papers. The advertisements presented examples of letters written by fictional people.{{Cite magazine |date=1960-01-11 |others= |title=Crane & Co. Stationery Ads Hint at Write-It-Yourself Correspondence |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_advertising-age_1960-01-11_31_2 |magazine=Advertising Age |language=English |publisher=Crain Communications, Incorporated |volume=31 |issue=2}}

Crane NXT is a publicly traded company (NYSE = “CXT”). Besides Crane Currency, it owns businesses that provide electronics and associated software for payment systems and merchandising.{{Cite web |last=Cornell |first=Joe |title=Crane NXT, Co. 1Q23 Results Ahead Of Expectations; Raises FY23 Guidance |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/joecornell/2023/05/12/crane-nxt-co-1q23-results-ahead-of-expectations-raises-fy23-guidance/ |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=Forbes |language=en}} It owns Crane Payment Innovations and OpSec Security.

Crane Currency's MOTION{{cite web |url=http://www.cranecurrency.com/tec2.html |title=Crane Currency Technology |accessdate=2010-03-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708201004/http://www.cranecurrency.com/tec2.html |archive-date=2011-07-08 }} security technology is used to protect high value banknotes from counterfeiting worldwide. The design involves a micro-lens array interacting with graphics far smaller than any microprinting.

Sweden's 1000 kronor banknote, released in 2006, was the first banknote to use Crane's MOTION technology. A 2007 AP article{{cite web

| url= https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna20450811

| title= $100 bill getting a high-tech face lift

| date= August 27, 2007 | publisher=NBC News |agency=Associated Press

| access-date= 2010-03-06

}} revealed that the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing would use the new security thread containing "650,000 tiny lenses" (now believed to be over one million lenses per inch of thread). It is currently being used on the $100 bill design released on October 8, 2013.{{cite web

| url=https://www.uscurrency.gov/media/news/federal-reserve-announces-day-issue-redesigned-100-note

| title= Federal Reserve Announces Day of Issue of Redesigned $100 Note

| date= April 23, 2013

| publisher= U.S. Currency Education Program

| accessdate= 2020-07-06

}}

In 2008, Crane acquired Visual Physics, a subsidiary of Nanoventions, based in Atlanta, Georgia. This purchase gave Crane exclusive control of the MOTION micro-optic security technology that is used for the protection of banknotes.

In 2014, Crane introduced its second security thread based on its micro-optic technology. The smaller lenses used in RAPID micro-optic thread enable even faster movement and high color contrast. RAPID uses dynamic movement as the key to easy authentication. Fast moving and unambiguous movement with just a modest tilt of the note are the feature's trademark.

MOTION SURFACE, introduced in 2017, is based on miniaturized MOTION micro-optic lenses that produce fluid movement and three dimensional effects. It is applied as a stripe as opposed to being integrated as a thread in paper. Therefore, MOTION SURFACE can be applied in the printing works on all manner of substrates including polymer.

The RAPID Vision security thread was announced in January 2023. It is a micro-optic feature that produces multicolor motion effects designed for quick, overt authentication by the public. It has since been used in banknotes issued in Guyana, Kazakhstan, and Poland.{{Cite web |title=Crane Currency reveals new bank note security thread |url=https://www.coinworld.com/news/paper-money/crane-currency-reveals-new-bank-note-security-thread |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=CoinWorld |language=en}}

• Frederick G. Crane (1922–1923)
• Winthrop M. Crane Jr. (1923–1951)
• Bruce Crane (1951–1975)
• Benjamin J. Sullivan (1975–1986)
• Thomas A. White (1986–1995)
• Lansing Crane (1995–2007)
• Charles Kittredge (2007–2011)
• Stephen DeFalco (2011–2018)
• Annemarie Watson (2018–2020)
• Sam Keayes (2020–2024)
• Dr. Aleta Richards (2025-present)

• Crane and Company Old Stone Mill Rag Room

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.cranecurrency.com Crane Currency]
• {{Cite news |first=Jim |last=Levulis |date=September 22, 2016 |title=Crane CEO Talks Foreign Expansion and Future of Paper Currency |url=http://wamc.org/post/crane-ceo-talks-foreign-expansion-and-future-paper-currency |publisher=WAMC |access-date=September 25, 2016}}

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Category:1801 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:Banknote printing companies

Category:Manufacturing companies based in Boston

Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1801

Category:Paper money of the United States

Category:Pulp and paper companies of the United States

Category:American companies established in 1801

Category:Crane family

Category:American stationers

Category:Privately held companies based in Massachusetts