18, 1764, printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall was issued to the Province of Pennsylvania. Franklin became a great supporter of this superior paper type, and is credited for introducing wove paper to France in 1777. The creation of wove paper in the American colonies originated through the paper mill of Thomas Willcox at his WIllcox Mill at Ivy Mills in Chester, Pennsylvania. Thomas Willcox and Benjamin Franklin maintained a collegial and personal relationship over decades of collaboration when Franklin ran the press of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Willcox supplied paper for the Gazette and was the exclusive provider of paper for the printing of colonial currency. Franklin was aware of Whatman's new wove paper used in Baskerville's special edition of Virgil. As such, paper historians believe that Franklin potentially brought back wove wire moulds and samples of Whatman wove paper to the colonies upon returning in 1762, and, in turn, Franklin introduced this new papermaking technique to his close friend and colleague, Thomas WIllcox to use in the manufacture of currency paper. 1764 was a pivotal year for colonial currency printing, as British statesman, George Grenville introduced the Currency Act, which attempted to prohibit the American colonies from producing their own currency. Franklin returned to England in November, 1764, in part, to diplomatically resolve England's monopolization of currency. In response to deteriorating currency printed on laid paper, Franklin was keenly aware of the need to produce currency on a durable paper such as wove, and to increase paper manufacture throughout the colonies through paper mills such as the WIllcox Mill. Thomas Willcox employed the most skilled wire mould maker in the American colonies at this time, named Nathan Sellers. Nathan and his father, John Sellers were the first wove wire mould makers to produce wove paper through the Willcox Mill at Ivy Mills. Detailed account ledgers of the Sellers contain entries for the purchase of wove wire mould supplies as early as 1773. During the 1770s in colonial America, wove paper was primarily created and used as a printing paper for currency, books, and bound account ledgers. Due to the paper crisis in 1776 resulting from the restriction of imported goods and paper supplies from England during the Revolutionary conflict, the production of laid and wove paper in the colonies was of utmost importance. Benjamin Franklin again led the charge for the collection of cotton and linen rags to