Our Stamp Den

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Nicknames of famous stamps
TASCO Educational Booklets
TASCO Non-booklet items: advertising covers, cinderellas, approval sheets, etc
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Ten Low Cost Ways to Start Collecting Stamps
Tips for the Beginner
World Records in Stamps
Write an Article or Tell us About Your Collection

Albums - Glassine Interleaving
Acid_Paper_and_Album_Pages
Buying Stamps - Kiloware and Mixtures
Buying & Using Sheet Protectors
Buying Stamps - New Issues
Great Deals are Often Not What They Seem
 Glues, Gums, and Adhesives
How to Tell a Revenue Usage When You See One
Inventories or Keeping Track
Learning About Your Hobby
Mount Stamps
Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Cancellations
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Soaking II
Sort Stamps
Save Time
Tools of the Trade
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Tag Stamps --Safety
Watermark Stamps 
What Condition Your Condition Is In
Specializing and Specialty Groups
What are and How to --Perforations---
What is My Collection Worth?
 “Unlisted Watermarks” and More
Used Catalogs and Stamp Books

Artcraft FDC's
My Other World
U.S. Revenues - I Love them!
What to Collect

Donations

Other terms for branches of philately:

On To The Fun Page

Tagging Stamp --Safety:

Most countries is use some sort of coating, underprinting, or paper that glows when subjected to UV light. Stamps that exhibit this behavior are called tagged. Tagged stamps are used in automated sorting equipment by the various postal authorities.

Collecting this material requires the collector to use a mineral lamp or UV light source. But because these lamps are dangerous to your eyes never look directly into the lamp to see if it is turned on. Relatively short exposures to Ultra Violet (UV) light can cause very painful burns to the corneas of your eyes. Exposure to UV can cause burns so severe that the surface of your eyes will blister. If you think a hair in your eye is painful, wait until you give yourself a case of welders flash by blistering your eyes with a UV lamp. Wear glasses if possible when using your lamp to check the tagging on your stamps. The glass or plastic in the glasses will absorb a considerable amount of the reflected light. Limit the use of your lamp to the shortest period you can. Accomplish this by doing as much sorting and arranging of the stamps as possible before you light your lamp.

There is another reason for limiting the amount of time you have your lamp on. This is economic. The filter on your lamp has a set life time. It can be used with maximum effect for only so many hours and then it needs to be replaced. Therefore, plan ahead on how and when you will use your lamp to check the tagging on stamps. You will save money in the long run and possibly pain in the short..

Ken Stewart

--The best safety device is a careful man (Erie RR Form 19)