UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Companies A to A

   = Understood to be a current stamp printer.    = company still believed to exist.

 Introduction      Companies B-F     Companies G-K
Companies L-Q    Companies R-S   Companies T-Z
Miscellaneous Images      Printers' Bibliography

 Achrovure Division of Union-Camp Corporation, Englewood
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1968 for USA.

Union Camp Corporation is principally engaged in the manufacture and sale of paperboard & packaging, fine paper and wood products, the production and sale of chemicals, and the distribution of business and printing papers and related products.

Achrovure are known to have produced brochures relating to Jaguar cars, so appear to be general commercial printers.

American Bank Note Company, New York and Los Angeles.
Abbreviation known by: ABN or ABNC.
Founded:  1858.  
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1858 for USA and 1859 for Canada.

ABN traces its roots back to 1795 and they have been a leader in security printing ever since. It was on 1 May 1858 that nine companies got together to form ABN. These included Messrs. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson of New York.  

In 1923, ABN across the border in Canada, became the Canadian Bank Note Company, Ottawa.  See also the entry for ABN operations under CANADA.

American Packaging Corporation, Columbus.
Abbreviation known by: APC.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1998 for USA.
Main printing process(es): Photogravure

American Packaging Corporation (APC) is one of the top ten flexible packaging converters in the U.S. today serving the consumer, pet food, agricultural chemical, and horticultural/lawn & garden markets.

APC was the printer named by Sennett Security Products to print rotogravure postage stamps under their USPS Multiprint Contract Award, until 2000.  In 1998, APC printed the Wisconsin Statehood Stamp, American Art, Space Discovery, Alfred Hitchcock and many more commemorative stamps.  In 1999, the program included the Tropical Flower, Coral Rose and James Cagney issues.

The Tropical Flower issue was on a unique stock, which had stamps printed on both sides. It was a modified form of the commonly used pressure sensitive adhesives, also offered by the United States Postal Service.  

American Security Printers Incorporated, Beaufort.
Abbreviation known by: ASP.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: [when?].

A part of Walsall Security Printers parent, Walsall Lithographic Holdings Group, UK, they are described as ‘a USA based Security Printer specialising in stamp production’. The compiler has yet to see any stamps produced under their imprint.

Archer & Daly, Richmond.
Abbreviation known by: A&D.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1863 for the Confederate States of America.

This company produced bonds, as well as postage stamps.

Ashton Potter (USA) Limited, Amherst and Williamsville, NY.
Abbreviation known by: AP or APU.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: [when?].
Main printing process(es): Litho

Situated just outside Buffalo, Ashton Potter (USA) is a part of the MDC Corporation of Canada.  (See also the Ashton Potter Canada Limited entry under Canada.)

In 1994, Ashton Potter was awarded its first contract with the USPS and established a plant in Williamsville, a suburb of Buffalo creating 100 new jobs in the area.  The relationship that had existed previously with Manhardt-Alexander of Amherst continued.

In May 1995, full production commenced on the new US$6 million combination press, producing stamps in intaglio (3 colours) / offset (six colours) simultaneously at the rate of six million stamps per hour.

August Gast Bank Notes & Lithographing Company, St. Louis.

In the 1870s (at least) they were producing maps.  Their first attempt at stamp printing 1892 for Costa Rica, but design work and essays were rejected.  It is unclear as to whether they eventually produced postage stamps.

Avery Dennison International, Pasadena and Clinton.   
Abbreviation known by: AVR.
Founded: 1935.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 19 [when?].

Avery Dennison have successfully infiltrated most markets that require self-adhesive technology, indeed, almost no one alive has not handled Avery labels – even if unwittingly. A self-adhesive stamps printer, initially for the USPS, but subsequently for many overseas post offices.

It was in 1935 that an idea spawned a new business industry.  In the midst of the Great Depression, young entrepreneur R. Stanton Avery manufactured the world's first self-adhesive labels in a 100-square-foot rented loft space in Los Angeles.

Marketing his labels under the name Kum Kleen Products, Avery improved his new product through innovation and determination.  He later developed the first die-cutting method, in-line machinery and a rotary die for the manufacture of self-adhesive labels.  The first synthetic-based pressure-sensitive adhesive and quick-release coated backing for self-adhesive products, the first systematic approach to label identification and pricing, and the first manual dispenser for self-adhesive labels are all down to Stanton.  By the end of Avery Adhesives' first decade, annual sales approached half a million dollars.

 Page updated on 01 September 2008.  All material Copyright  © 2000-Date Glenn H Morgan FRPSL.