Black Lights And Tagging On Stamps

I've heard that there are certain stamps that have
tagging which can be seen under a black light.

Walmart had small black lights on clearance from Halloween yesterday, so I picked one up for $3.00.

Is there a list somewhere that tells which stamps have this tagging?

I think this would be a fun thing to do with kids (with supervision, of course!).

This link may be helpful:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Guide-to-US...000002458564

Also note the following quote:

The blacklight (longwave) will show some luminescent papers and some non-USA tagging.
To see USA (and others) tagging you need a shortwave light which is far more dangerous, especially with children.
They are available at most supply dealers.

If you can't see anything on recent American stamps with your black light, don't give up - try a recent Canadian stamp, German stamp, etc., and maybe you'll be able to see something there. Most larger "advanced" nations will use automatic mail sorting equipment, so their stamps will usually have some sort of tagging on them to enable this. Some countries (like the US) use tagging visible with one type of shortwave light, other countries will use a different kind of tagging. Canadian stamp tagging (modern stuff since about 1972) can be seen with either wavelength, so they're good ones to play with.

Ryan

Thanks for all the info!

Tonight after the kids have gone to bed, I'll go downstairs and experiment with my black light.