Scott # 582-585 Canada Stamp

Nope, short wave won't work on Canadian stamps. That one you need for US stamps. As for short wave, that one you definitely don't want to be looking at.

Well then....Long wave it is.

Canada Post sells one.....not sure about the quality.

http://www.canadapost.ca/shop/colle...ecution=e1s1

Except for having a blue case, it's exactly the same as my red one noted above. As lithograving noted, it's not particularly strong, but in the my office, as long as my desk lamp isn't shining directly at the stamps, it's good enough to see which ones are tagged or not. In a brightly lit room, it definitely won't do it.

Haven't ever replaced the batteries in mine, but it's only turned on for a few seconds at a time.

btw, when I said you definitely don't want to be looking at the short wave one, I mean that the short wave uv is the more energetic wavelength, and WILL do damage if you look at it too long. Mine is shielded, so all that is exposed is a small "window" on the business end that you point at the stamps.

Thanks for the Canada Post link serious collector....If they sell it, then it must be ok for the job at hand....Not a bad price either.

Dave9911, the reflection off the stamps have no affect, does it...???

Not in the length of time you are likely to be looking at them, no. Most is absorbed, and then re-emitted in the visible spectrum (which is what makes the stamp "glow" or phosphoresce).

You need a short wave to see the after glow of the Winnipeg
tagging which is phosphorescent not fluorescent.

Yikes lithograving...Another thing to buy...Guess I will have to sell all my stamps to pay for it....

Well Dave9911, that is good news about how much it affects you...After I sell all my stamps, can you send me something to look at with ALL these bells and whistles.

Canadian stamps with fluorescent tagging can be seen without problems with either long wave or short wave UV lamps (both the old OP-4 unstable taggant and the OP-2 taggant still in use today). It's very easy to see - I have a stronger Raytech plug-it-in-the-wall lamp, and I can see tagging in the middle of the day in my living room with that lamp. For the older phosphorescent taggant, I use a darkened room - for used stamps, I often need complete darkness as the taggant gets weaker after soaking.

As mentioned already, short wave UV is necessary for phosphorescent tagging. You can see a bit of difference in the taggant if you use a long wave lamp, but for that matter, you can see a bit of difference with the naked eye.

Ryan

Ryan, where did you get this Raytech plug in and how much?

Ya Ryan....Have you seen them for sale lately or do they even make them anymore...???

Raytech UV lamps are still popular, more so with the rock & mineral collectors than the stamp collectors, perhaps. My lamps are both LS-7 models. I bought one new about 25 years ago, mail order from Unitrade in Toronto as I recall, and the second one was an ebay find. I like the lamp a lot and although the bulbs have lasted forever so far, I'm sure one day I'll drop the lamp or I'll invent some other disaster, so when one popped up for cheap on ebay I grabbed it.

My old lamps have a different housing than the new ones, mine have an integral metal handle instead of the fabric strap they appear to have now. I like the solid handle on mine, I'd probably get frustrated with a floppy handle.

The Raytech website has a shopping cart and a dealer locator, so it should be easy to find a new one (warning, they're a lot more expensive than the little battery-operated lamps).

http://www.raytechultraviolet.com/

Every now and then one will pop up on ebay. There's one there now (untested, and ships only to the US). There's a smaller LS-4 on the Weeda Stamps bidboard that closes this evening (Victoria, BC).

Ryan

Ryan...Went to the web site and the cheapest one , I guess is battery operated....Do you think it will be good enough, or are the plug in ones better...???

I suppose it depends on how many stamps you will be checking. I like looking for tagging errors (missing tagging, one bar where there should be two, etc.). For that, I look at every stamp, so when I'm searching through stuff, I use the lamp a lot. I've accumulated the occasional battery-powered UV lamp but I've never yet put a battery in them because I don't mind using corded stuff. If you have a boatload of stamps you might go through a boatload of batteries!

As far as viewing strength goes, Canadian fluorescent tagging is very easy to see with UV light and I don't think you'd have a problem with being able to see it with any battery-powered lamp. The phosphorescent tagging (Winnipeg tagged, 1962-1973 or thereabouts) is tougher to see.

It's the same tagging on the majority of British tagged stamps. On used stamps that have soaked for a while, I sometimes have to be in a completely darkened room with my eyes closed while I pass the light close over the top of the group of stamps. As soon as I turn the lamp off, I open my eyes and I can spot the tagged stamps, but it's still difficult to check out anything in detail. Some Machin stamps come with notched tagging, short tagging bars, slight variances in tagging width, and worst of all this crazy 150 / 250 phosphor screen variety thing. It's very tough to figure out this stuff on used stamps even with a good lamp, so I would imagine it's doubly tough with a battery-powered lamp.

Ryan