U.S. #3230-34
1998 32¢ Bright Eyes
Issue Date: August 20, 1998
City: Boston, MA
Quantity: 36,000,000
Printed By: Guilford Gravure for Banknote Corp of America
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: Serpentine die cut 9.9
Color: Multicolored
This se-tenant pays homage to five of America's most popular pets: the cat, parakeet, hamster, dog, and fish. Please note: Due to the layout of the pane, the se-tenant may or may not be provided in Scott Catalogue order.
First U.S. Stamp With Scrambled Indicia
On September 18, 1997, the USPS issued the U.S. Air Force stamp, the first U.S. stamp to have a hidden image using Scrambled Indicia.
Over the years, the USPS had always sought ways to combat counterfeiting, with grills being one of the earliest examples. As technologies changed, they found new, more advanced ways to do this, including microprinting and tagging. Then in 1997, they introduced Scrambled Indicia.
Scrambled Indicia is a pre-press process invented by Graphic Security Systems Corporation. According to the company, it “scrambles, distorts, intertwines, overlaps, or otherwise manipulates images making encoded information on them unreadable by the naked eye, and non-copyable by current color copiers and digital scanners.” These images could then be viewed using a special decoder. In addition to thwarting counterfeiting, the USPS also hoped this interesting new technology could help arouse interest among collectors and inspire new ones.
Between 1997 and 2004 the USPS produced more than 40 stamps with Scrambled Indicia:
Click here to get your own decoder to see these neat hidden images in person.