![Amer Bank Note Lafayette Av & Baretto St sun jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Amer_Bank_Note_Lafayette_Av_%26_Baretto_St_sun_jeh.jpg)
ABCorp is an American corporation providing contract manufacturing and related services to the authentication, payment and secure access business sectors. Its history dates back to 1795 as a secure engraver and printer, and assisting the newly formed
First Bank of the United States
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
to design and produce more counterfeit resistant currency. The company has facilities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The American Bank Note Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ABCorp.
Origins
Robert Scot
Robert Scot (October 2, 1745 – November 3, 1823) was a Scottish-American engraver who served as Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1793 until his death in 1823. He was succeeded by William Kneass. Scot designed the popular and r ...
, the first official engraver of the young
U.S. Mint, began the company that would eventually grow into a high security
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
and printing firm, the American Bank Note Company.
Founded in 1795 as Murray, Draper, Fairman & Company after Scot's three partners, the company prospered as United States population expanded and financial institutions proliferated. Its products included
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
and
bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
certificates, paper currency for the nation's thousands of state-chartered banks, postage stamps (fro
1879to 1894), and a wide variety of other engraved and printed items. Two security printers absorbed into the ABN in 1879 produced U. S. Postage stamps between 1861 and that year: the National Bank Note Company (1861-73) and the Continental Banknote Company (1873-79).
After 1857
On April 29, 1858, following the
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...
, seven prominent security printers merged to form the American Bank Note Company. The new company made
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
its headquarters. Less than two years later, the remaining handful of independent bank note printers merged to form the National Bank Note Company.
To be close to the stock exchanges, brokerage firms, and banks in lower Manhattan, the American Bank Note Company established its headquarters in the Merchants Exchange Building at
55 Wall Street
55 Wall Street, formerly known as the National City Bank Building, is an eight-story building on Wall Street between William and Hanover streets in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. The lowest three stor ...
in Manhattan. The company moved its office and plant to 142 Broadway (at the corner of Liberty Street) in 1867, to another new facility at 78–86 Trinity Place in 1882, and again to
70 Broad Street
The American Bank Note Company Building is a five-story building at 70 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by architects Kirby, Petit & Green in the neo-classical style, and contai ...
in 1908.
The first federally issued paper currency was circulated by the
US Treasury Department
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and th ...
following the outbreak of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. Congress passed authorizing legislation for $60 million worth of these "
Demand Notes" on July 17 and August 5, 1861. Under contract with the government, the novel paper money, called "
greenbacks" by the public, was produced by the American Bank Note Co. and the National Bank Note Co. A total of 7.25 million notes were produced in denominations of $5, $10, and $20. American and National were also producing
paper money for the Confederacy at the same time.
![ABNC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/ABNC.jpg)
Following the initial production of U.S. currency by the government's
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Rese ...
in 1862, ABNCo sought a new business abroad. The company eventually supplied security paper and bank notes to 115 foreign countries.
In 1877 Congress mandated that the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing be the sole producer of all United States currency. The
security printing
Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, cheques, passports, tamper-evident labels, security tapes, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity ca ...
industry, finding a good deal of its work had evaporated, accordingly underwent a second major consolidation in 1879, as American absorbed the National Bank Note and Continental Bank Note companies. At the time of the merger, Continental held the contract to produce U. S. Postage stamps, and this production continued under American.
In 1887, ABNCo won the second four-year contract to engrave and print
postal notes
A postal order or postal note is a type of money order usually intended for sending money through the mail. It is purchased at a post office and is payable at another post office to the named recipient. A fee for the service, known as poundage, ...
for the U.S. post office. (New York's
Homer Lee Bank Note Company
The Homer Lee Bank Note Company was a producer of postage stamps and currency and was founded in New York City by artist, engraver, and inventor Homer Lee. In 1891, it was absorbed into the American Bank Note Company.
The Homer Lee Company grew ...
produced these notes during the first contract period.) American assigned Thomas F. Morris, its Chief Designer, the task of re-designing this early money order. The paper for this contract (as for all Postal Notes and a massive number of official U.S. high security documents) was produced by
Crane and Co. of Dalton, Massachusetts.
In 1891 the American Bank Note Company began producing a new form of negotiable instrument for a longtime customer: the
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
“Traveler's Cheque” demand notes. In its first year, American Express sold $9,120 worth the product.
In 1894, ABNCo completed the final contract for the private printing of American stamps. Perhaps the most popular were the
Columbian Issue
The Columbian Issue, also known as the Columbians, is a set of 16 postage stamps issued by the United States to commemorate the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago during 1893. The finely-engraved stamps were the first commemorative stamp ...
, one cent to $5 issues commemorating the voyages of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
and the 1892–93
Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in Chicago (for which they also printed the admission tickets). On July 1, 1894, American delivered its entire stamp-producing operation to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, where U.S. stamps were still printed up into the 1990s.
Twentieth century
![American Bank Note Co with banners celebrating Diamond Jubilee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/American_Bank_Note_Co_with_banners_celebrating_Diamond_Jubilee.jpg)
In 1933, the company printed the second series of
Bank Melli Iran
Bank Melli Iran (BMI; fa, بانک ملی ایران, lit=National Bank of Iran, ''Bânk-e Melli-ye Irân'') is the first national and commercial retail bank of Iran. It is considered as the largest Iranian company in terms of annual income with ...
banknotes.
In 1943 the U.S. Post Office launched a series of thirteen stamps honoring the countries that had been overrun by the
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
during World War II. Each stamp featured a full-color reproduction of one of the occupied nations. While the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had previously issued bi-colored stamps, it did not have equipment for printing the necessary multi-colored flag images; and so, contracted with the American Banknote Company to produce the stamps. Issued between June 1943 and November 1944, the
Overrun Countries series
The Overrun Countries series was a series of thirteen commemorative postage stamps, each of five-cent denomination, issued by the United States over a fifteen-month period in 1943 and 1944 as a tribute to thirteen nations overrun, occupied, and/o ...
reproduced the flags of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, Albania, Austria, Denmark, and Korea,
ABCorp
American Banknote Corporation is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
, with North American manufacturing facilities located in Boston, Massachusetts, and Toronto, Ontario, and distribution services located in Columbia, Tennessee.
Today, ABCorp offers a wide variety of products and services touching each of the commercial, financial, and government and non-profit sectors ranging from dual-interface (contactless) payment debit and credit cards to B2B (Business to Business) distribution services touching 60,000+ retail storefronts. The company has operations located in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and customers in over 120 countries across the globe.
Landmark buildings
The
American Bank Note Company Building
The American Bank Note Company Building is a five-story building at 70 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by architects Kirby, Petit & Green in the neo-classical style, and contain ...
and
American Bank Note Company Printing Plant
The American Bank Note Company Printing Plant is a repurposed printing plant in the Hunts Point, Bronx, Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. It was built in 1909 by the American Bank Note Company, contemporaneously with Ameri ...
were both built in 1908 and are both designated
New York City Landmarks
These are lists of New York City landmarks designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission:
* New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan:
** List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street
** List o ...
. The former is also listed on the
U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The buildings were sold in 1988 and 1985, respectively.
Gallery
File:Benjamin Franklin 1861 Issue-1c.jpg, Benjamin Franklin Issue of 1861 from the first series of US Postage Stamps produced by the National Bank Note Co (later called the American Bank Note Co.[Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps]
File:Columbus 1892 Issue-$5.jpg, The $5 Columbian stamp (1893), from the last US postage stamp issue produced by the American Banknote Corporation until 1944.
File:Beer revenue stamp proof single 1871.JPG, Beer revenue stamp proof single, 1871
File:Timbre penny post Canada 1898.jpg, Canadian 2 cent stamp, 1898
File:Lady of the Lightbulbs.jpg, 1897 "Lady of the Light Bulbs" revenue stamp of Canada
File:NSwik-stamp8c1860.jpg, Queen Victoria, Nova Scotia 8½ cent stamp, 1860
File:Pedro Álvares Cabral - steel engraving by American Bank Note Company.jpg, Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral ( or ; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in ...
- steel engraving by American Bank Note Company
File:1916 2c Colombia specimen revenue stamp.jpg, Colombia 1916 specimen revenue stamp
File:NBG banknote-1912.jpg, Greek bank note of 1912 for the National Bank of Greece
The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece.
85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...
File:Overrun countries Korea flag stamp.png, US Stamp from the "Overrun Countries series
The Overrun Countries series was a series of thirteen commemorative postage stamps, each of five-cent denomination, issued by the United States over a fifteen-month period in 1943 and 1944 as a tribute to thirteen nations overrun, occupied, and/o ...
," showing the pre-1905 flag of Korea (similar to the modern flag of South Korea).
File:US Printed Dutch Guilder.png, Dutch Guilder printed for the Dutch government-in-exile
The Dutch government-in-exile ( nl, Nederlandse regering in ballingschap), also known as the London Cabinet ( nl, Londens kabinet), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the Germ ...
, 1943
See also
*
Canadian Bank Note Company
The Canadian Bank Note Company (CBNC) is a Canadian security printing company. It is best known for holding the contract with the Bank of Canada to supply it with Canada's banknotes since 1935. The company's other clients include private busine ...
- Canadian unit from 1897 to 1923
*
New York Bank Note Company
*
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...
*
Postage stamps and postal history of the United States
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a ...
References and sources
References
Sources
*''Antecedents of the American Bank Note Company of 1858'' by Foster Wild Rice
*''The Story of the American Bank Note Company'' by William H. Griffiths
*''America’s Money America’s Story'' by Richard Doty
*''The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. Paper Money'' by Gene Hessler
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Bank Note
Postal history
Postage stamps of the United States
Printing companies of the United States
Banknote printing companies
Publishing companies established in 1795
Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut