Paul, We had a travelling exhibit of this stuff, along with a hunk of real Curie-made radium salts, when I was working in Texas. Of course, the pure radium salts were behind several inches of solid lead, with a viewing port of foot-thick leaded glass. They were extremely "hot" even after 50-odd years. I can not imagine them having carried it around in their pockets. There was also a geiger counter as part of the exhibition, and we put out a number of commercially available things that are radioactive for people to check with the counter. Commercial welding rods, lantern mantles, morton salt, and a variety of other things exhibit low levels of radiation. Very low and harmless, but detectable none the less. The Fiestaware and vaseline glass with the uranium salts are similarly low-level sources, and not to be considered hazards to public safety. Eating off them might be a bad idea, but more because the uranium salts might leach into the food than the latent radiocativity. Not all vaseline glass has uranium salts, just as not all orange(and pinkish/salmon) colored Fiestaware is radioactive. It depends on the period during which the stuff was manufactured. In any case, you do not need to worry about your parents glowing in the dark as a result of their vaseline glass collection. Mark Janzen Registrar/Collections Manager Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection Wichita State University (316)978-5850 Paul McCoy <paul-mccoy@COMCA ST.NET> To Sent by: Museum [log in to unmask] discussion list cc <[log in to unmask] SE.LSOFT.COM> Subject Re: Radioactive materials 02/24/2005 03:03 PM Please respond to Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask] SE.LSOFT.COM> OK, new to this conversation. Are you telling me that the enormous (and hideous) vaseline glass collection my parents have accumulated over the last 40 years is radioactive? How radioactive? Paul -- Paul McCoy Education Specialist Historic Carnton Plantation 1345 Carnton Lane Franklin, TN 37064 (615) 794-0903 (615) 668-0741--cell [log in to unmask] -------------- Original message -------------- Add to the list that lovely greenish 'Vaseline glass', which contains uranium. Laura Laura H. Nightengale Head of Collections Texas Archeological Research Laboratory The University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station R7500 Austin, TX 78712-0714 512-475-6853 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).