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I need to buy a UV light to check for phosphor on GB and commonwealth stamps only. I see that UV lights can be purchase with various wavelengths.

What are the necessary wavelengths for these stamps?

If anyone has a link for a USA supplier, please post.

Thanks in advance

Greetings Britcollector.

UV lamps generally come in longwave and shortwave. For the early GB known as Wildings a shortwave is required and for later GB decimal machins longwave is what is wanted. However there is always a caveat. The cheap handheld shortwave also emits in the ultraviolet range and can be known to blot out what you want to see because of this.

I have found that the Importa model 219 shortwave is adequate but if the batteries are fully charged it emits in the ultraviolet band a little too much so I run them down a little.

In addition you may find that the Wildings with the green reaction do not show up and that the difference between the blue and violet reactions can be discerned by the duration of the afterglow.

Have a look at this thread http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11084&hilit=globes which discusses the construction of a homemade unit.

I hope this of some help

Feebletodix

_________________
Weaponsmith for the DemiGods from the plane of Silliness

As far as I know, all GB phosphor-tagged stamps can be
seen with the naked eye. Don't know about Commonwealth
though.

If you really want a lamp, you will need short wave for
phosphorescence or long wave for fluorescence. You can
also get lamps that are capable of both.

_________________
Jay Carrigan
http://www.jaypex.com

Where the phosphor is 'all-over' printing or 'phosphor-coated paper' it can be almost impossible to say whether the phosphor is there, or whether it is a 'phosphor omitted' variety.

Even where the phosphor is in bands it isn't always easy to see, especially on Wildings where the only way to distinguish green, violet, and blue is with a UV lamp.

_________________
Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

I was really wanting to get a UV light and wondered what everyone thinks of this item I found on ebay! I know nothing about these, so am not sure if it will even suit my casual needs!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Check-POSTAG ... 23190adecd

I have no idea how to get the image here...so any hints would be appreciated for that too!

hutch

_________________
I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.

Those are the cheaper end of the scale longwave lamps. Depending on what you're trying to identify, you might need to be in a darkened room to get results, and if you're using it to identify shades of stamps, the purple light emitted makes it nigh on impossible. I sell a high-end unit that covers longwave/shortwave, with a cut-out filter so that everything isn't bathed in the purple UV light. But if you're just using it to spot bands, the cheaper one you've linked to should fit the bill.

Hi Chris, thanks very much for that! Wow is about all I can say about that unit of yours! Makes the one I found...well, it'd be like buying a pack of plastic forks to cut through boot leather instead of investing in a proper saw to begin with!!!

My problem is that I really haven't got into the color identification and all of that yet! It was just going to be a bit of fun to start with, play around and see what eventuated!

I really can't afford that $349.00 (I think that was the price on the thread) just at the moment but I can also see that the one I was looking at would be just a waste of money! I suppose it comes down to, if you're going to do something, might as well do it properly!

I've found another thread as well, so I'll read through both of them and try to work out what to do!

Thanks, hutch

_________________
I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.