Scott 5015 Presort First Class Blue Is It Tagged?

So I have 3 stamps left and right are 4587 and 5015 in the middle is it tagged?
the one in the middle glows yellow. Both years I assume are the same un tagged.

3193zd, you are on the right path. The 4590a stamps can all exhibit some fluorescence under SWUV ( short wave ultra violet ), although
they also exist on dead ( normal ) paper. The stamps of Scott 5018a are all on normal paper

Peter

Okay so are there then 3 types of paper ? the 4590 normal flourescence shown on my two left and right, 5018a with a green flourescence, and then on my other post, dead paper. no glow at all.

The 2015 Spectrum Eagles are Overall tagged. The 2012 Eagles are printed on a prephos. paper (whitish blue glow) and on non-prephos. paper (paper is dead). See the tagging DB at: www.stampsmarter.com/feature...gingView.html

Here are some better comparison images. They are all the same color of Spectrum Eagle.

Thanks Mstocky!

Hi Mstocky my 2017 Scotts has the 2015 eagle listed as untagged. Is this an error in the listing? Also can you comment on my topic: Different Colors, Different Catalog Treatment - U590

3193zd, as stated above the 2012 Spectrum Eagle was issued on both pre-phosphored paper and on regular, untagged paper. Probably a mistake - precanceled stamps are not supposed to be tagged. And Scott is in-accurate on this. You can go to www.PNC3.org for more info.
The 2015 issue only on regular paper ( Nonphosphored USPS type III paper ).


Peter

Hi Peter but my 2015 is the middle one that glows green tagging.

Hi Peter,

I know that all the information states the 2015 Spectrum Eagles are supposed to be issued on nonphosphored, but as I understand it that doesn't mean the stamps can't be Overall tagged. When I examine the 2015 Spectrum Eagles under various optical magnification with SW UV light there is clearly a fluorescent fine grain pattern visible on the Spectrum Eagles. When I compare this fluorescent fine grain pattern to other APU stamps with Overall tagging of the same timeframe they appear to match in size and color. The only difference appears to be how the taggant is applied. While some of the other APU stamps are printed with a tagging roller with a cross hatch pattern the Spectrum Eagles have an even overall look. Unfortunately I don't have a camera that can
zoom in on the grain pattern. Can you explain what we are seeing?

I managed to get a pretty good zoomed image showing the tagging on a different representative tagged APU stamp versus the 2015 Spectrum Eagle (SE). One the top you can see the typical cross hatched tagging pattern while the bottom SE it appears evenly coated. Looking past the cross hatch pattern, color and grain pattern between the two look clearly similar from my perspective. While the cross hatch pattern looks somewhat brighter, I expect this is mainly an artifact of the accumulation of taggant in the grooves in the Anilox roller.

Hi Mstocky, and thank you for the great pictures. I am still not convinced that these are tagged. I think something strange is happening - not only with your Spectrum Eagle but also with a more recent issue.
If you are a member of PNC3 you may have read about the Meyer lemon stamp? It is not tagged, but truly outshines everything in both SWUV and LWUV. It is bad enough that the USPS equipment thinks they are first class stamps. We are trying to get to the bottom of this.

Peter

Just to be clear - yellow green glow is from the taggant, whitish blue glow is from some other compound

Interesting problem. These pictures are taken under SW UV. First picture is a comparison between the 2015 SE and Meyer Lemons. They are completely different. The lemon has a smooth even blue color.

The Meyer Lemons is printed on a prephos paper. This same apparent type of paper has been used for some other more current stamps. For example here is one comparison between the Meyer Lemon and #5311 Global Forever. The 5311 is printed on prephos paper with Image Tagging around the flower. The untagged area on the 5311 clearly shows the prephos paper. The color of the prephos paper is a smooth even blue color same as Meyer Lemon. Since I understand BCA printed both the Lemons and Global Forever, I expect they used the same type of paper for both which would explain the blue color seen. You can also see the tagging on 5311 as greenish circular Image Tagging around the Poinsettia.

"The Meyer Lemons is printed on a prephos paper"

Prephos or hi-brite paper? Not the same thing

They should not be printed on pre-phosphored paper.

I seemed to have misinterpreted the USPS specs. For example, in the announcements for the following BCA stamps they describe the Paper Type as follows:

Meyer Lemon #5256 -> Paper Type: Nonphosphored Type III
Sparkling Holidays #5332-35 -> Paper Type: Nonphosphored Type III, Block Tag
Poinsettia Global #5311 -> Paper Type: Phosphor, Block tagged
Birds in Winter #5317-20 -> Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Block Tag

I was making the assumption that if there was a two part description separated by a comma that the first item referred to the actual paper and the second the tagging. The blue color under SW UV was throwing me since many of the newer issues have a tagging that is bluish in color.