Radioactive antiques are usually not a health risk as long as they are intact and in good condition.
(Source: National Museum of American History)įor hundreds of years, glassmakers used small amounts of uranium to create yellow or green glass. This image of a vaseline-glass cup can glow under a black light. By the 1970s, radium was no longer used on watch and clock dials. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses were being caused by internal contamination from the radium they ingested. Many of these workers developed bone cancer, usually in their jaws. In the body, radium acts similar to calcium, so the radium that workers ingested was deposited into their bones. In doing this, they often swallowed some of the radioactive paint. To create fine tips on their paint brushes for small surfaces, many radium dial painters licked the bristles of their paintbrushes. During the production of radium dials, many workers who painted clock or instrument dials with radium developed cancer. If radium is ingested or inhaled, the radiation emitted by the radionuclide can interact with cells and damage them. If it is inhaled or swallowed, radium is dangerous because there is no shielding inside the body. It emits alpha, beta, and gamma radiation.
This helped the pilots avoid being seen by enemy soldiers. This glow-in-the-dark paint was also used on airplane dials and gauges, which allowed people to read clocks, gauges, and dials at night with no other light.ĭuring World War II, radium dials and gauges allowed pilots to fly at night without cockpit lights. These paints were used on the dials of clocks and watches to make them glow-in-the-dark. When radium was discovered in the early 1900s, people were fascinated by its mysterious glow and it was added to many everyday products, including paints. Radium is one type of radioactive material that could be found in antiques. Glow-in-the-dark paint is now made without radioactive material, but in the early 1900s radioactive materials were used to make paint that glowed. Various clocks and watches are pictured with glowing numbers on their faces, due to radium’s glowing properties. However, it can register on a hand-held Geiger counter if the object is close enough to the monitor. The amount of radiation these items emit is small. Radioactive antiques can continue to emit very low-levels of radiation for thousands of years, if not longer. Cloisonné jewelry gets some of its yellow, orange and off-white colors from small amounts of uranium in the glaze.It also makes the glass glow bright green under a black light. This gives the glass its yellow-green color. Vaseline glass, or canary glass, contains a small amount of uranium.Ceramics made until the 1970s may have glazes colored with radionuclides.Clocks, watches and dials that glow-in-the-dark without the use of a battery may contain radium or tritium.Certain radioactive materials were used in antiques because of their unique color. Some antiques were made and sold before scientists fully understood the health effects of radiation. Antiques that contain radioactive materials are usually not a health risk if they are in good condition.Īlong with furniture, clothing, jewelry, dishes, and other treasures sold at thrift stores and antique shops, you might find some items that contain radioactive material.Antiques containing radioactive material may continue to emit very low-levels of radiation for thousands of years, if not longer.Certain radioactive materials were used in antiques because of their unique color.
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