Uranium glass was once used in dinnerware and household products, but it fell out of favor because uranium supply to most industries was severely limited during the Cold War, from the 1940s through the 1990s. Still, other manufacturers quickly recognized its commercial potential throughout the U.S. The use of a 'black light' is used by many collectors of antique items, not just those of glass. The luminous glass was first marketed by James Powell’s Whitefriars glass company in London, England. While you may be able to recognize some pieces just by looking at them, it takes a UV black light to officially see whether or not the glass flouresces due to the presence of uranium keep in mind, the glass glows green only because of the uranium, not because it’s radioactive. However, uranium was initially discovered in 1789 by a German chemist and was rapidly used in decorative glass for its luminous properties. Josef Riedel popularized the word after it originally appeared in the 1830s. Pitchblende was mined from the Habsburg silver mines in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, and employed as a coloring ingredient in the local glassmaking business beginning in the late Middle Ages. Gunther of the University of Oxford discovered a mosaic containing yellow glass with 1% uranium oxide in a Roman house on Cape Posillipo in the Bay of Naples, Italy, in 1912. While the modern understanding of vaseline glass dates to the 18th century, the use of uranium glass may be traced back to at least 79 AD, when R.

Black light to detect uranium glass