Recycled Currency Stationery by Crane's

Several days ago I was rummaging around in a desk drawer where I keep miscellaneous stationery -- notepads, legal pads, notebooks, and things like that.  And I ran across an item I had forgotten about: a pad of paper that was made from recycled U.S. currency.  Even if it were not for the legend stamped at the bottom of every page (see photo), this paper would nevertheless betray its origins by its overall green shade and green fibrous flecks woven into the paper.  In spite of being recycled, it's quite a heavyweight paper, and takes fountain pen ink really well.

This got me to thinking about where this paper originally came from.  According to the Internet, the paper for U.S. currency is made by Crane's, with a content of 75% cotton and 25% linen.  This mix makes it way more durable than ordinary paper made from wood pulp.  But when you recycle any kind of paper, it weakens the fibers and the recycled paper is never as strong as the original.  But in the case of this paper, it can still be pretty darn good.

So in the 1990's, Crane's experimented with making this recycled currency paper, and marketed it under the brand name "Old Money."  (I am pretty sure this is when I bought this paper, so it's about 20 years old at this point.)  It's great paper, but then as now, there was little to no consumer demand for it, so production was dropped.

BUT: thinking about the lineage of this paper, it suddenly occurred to me that this qualifies as genuine Crane's stationery.  Cheaper, and greener (in more ways than one), but still definitely Crane's!

I really like this paper, and I would like to track down some more of it, if any exists.  If anyone has any leads to a source for this paper, please let me know in the comments!