Uranium Glass Bowl

This glass bowl is made from sand containing uranium, which not only gives the glass its characteristic green colour but makes it mildly radioactive and strongly fluorescent. Uranium has long been used as a glass colourant: glass containing 1% uranium was found in a first century mosaic in the Imperial Roman Villa, Naples. Uranium glass was very popular in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the inclusion of uranium-containing minerals in glassware and ceramics was widespread, resulting in radioactive and strongly fluorescent consumer goods. However, production was curtailed when countries started conserving uranium supplies when the world entered the nuclear age during the Second World War. The scientific consensus is that risks involved in handling uranium glass, or using it for culinary purposes, are minimal. The rim of this particular bowl, which dates from around 1950 and comes from Australia, has been whitened by exposure to mercury.