
Published: Nov 30, 06
Views: 4,673
Uranium Glass, also known as ‘vaseline glass.’ is colored yellow to yellow green by uranium content. Expose the glass to UV light, and it’ll glow. The glass was produced in the 50s before the radioactive properties were fully understood. Get it while it’s hot!
Uranium was first used to color glass in the 1830s and it has continued to be used for this purpose with the exception of a fifteen year (or so) period beginning in World War II. Prior to World War II, natural uranium was used, but when Vaseline glass production resumed in 1959, the switch was made to depleted uranium (DU). All of the items shown here contain natural uranium except the tube on the right which contains depleted uranium. At present (2004), a few companies in the U.S. are still making Vaseline glass (e.g., Boyd Crystal Art Glass, Mosser, Summit Glass and Fenton Glass), but it is exclusively of the decorative variety. No dinnerware is being made.
(neatorama)
References: orau.org, neatorama
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