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In January of 2021, a New Jersey teenager brought a piece of an antique Fiestaware plate to a high-school science class, intending to test it for radioactivity using a Geiger counter.⁠ https://bit.ly/3sLmH25⁠When the plate registered as radioactive, someone panicked and called in a hazmat team. The entire school was evacuated, and those in the nuclear science field were aghast.⁠⁠But thousands of similarly radioactive plates and cups can be found in antique stores, thrift shops, and possibly your own kitchen cabinets. ⁠Radioactive antiques have a long history, as well as a certain glow that is highly desired by some collectors today.⁠⁠Well before its potential for energy or weaponry was recognized, uranium was commonly used as a coloring agent in everything from plates, glasses, and punch bowls to vases, candlesticks, and beads. Uranium glass mosaics existed as early as 79 AD.⁠⁠Also known as canary or vaseline glass, uranium glass is typically yellow or green in color (pictured) and glows bright green under a black light. Uranium was also used in the glaze of orange-red Fiestaware, also known as “radioactive red,” prior to 1944.⁠ https://bit.ly/3sLmH25⁠📸 @the_glowing_glass_guy_