The seafoam green is a beloved favorite of mine...however I can get that color close to me, I'm happy! The old Fire King jadeite glassware makes me swoon as well.

If you read every on line exhibit on the Picard Museum website, you will have a very good primer on beads from the African Trade. Buying their book series will give you a lifelong reference for these beautiful beads.

Below is a link to the Picard Bead Exhibit Archive Directory.

Faceted Bohemian Beads (Exhibit #11) is where you should go first.

You can always find the link to the Picard site on our Articles page.

Thanks for posting!

Here are 2 images from Exhibit 11.

Perfect . Thank you.

Just a bit of a warning. I bought a strand of beads from Ebay labeled as citrine, when it arrived I saw that the beads were Vaseline beads, knowing they used uranium to color the glass I put my radiation detector on the beads it read such a high reading it almost told me to run. I personally would avoid collecting this type bead and for sure would never wear them. I informed the seller and returned the beads.
Danny

Could you post a picture of those radioactive beads, or would you recommend checking all faceted Czech beads of this general shape and size? I've got ones somewhat like the original poster's in stock. Now I have to see what a Geiger counter costs.

As I said I returned the beads to the seller many years ago no iamges either. Don't shop geiger counter shop Radiation Detectors they can be purchased very cheap on Ebay, I think I paid less than 40 dollars for mine.
Danny

Years ago I tested a lot of green vaseline from Eritrea with a Geiger counter: measured radioactivity was very low. Maybe the percentage of uranium was differenti according to the colours or the time of production?

of course it's gullible of me not to do my own research...but I have worn a fair amount of these thru the years without spewing green vomit or losing my hair or anything....

Thanks for the warning.

Anyone who is curious or worried about safety - I have on loan my brother's Geiger counter - he is a nuclear engineer - so if you'd like a reading please let me know via email (for those who have it) or by message via BCN private message. Some uranium glass is very radioactive but I haven't any info on how much of the hot stuff is out there. It sounds like Danny found some, though!

From Wikipedia:
The normal color of uranium glass ranges from yellow to green depending on the oxidation state and concentration of the metal ions, although this may be altered by the addition of other elements as glass colorants. Uranium glass also fluoresces bright green under ultraviolet light and can register above background radiation on a sufficiently sensitive Geiger counter, although most pieces of uranium glass are considered to be harmless and only negligibly radioactive.

The most typical color of uranium glass is pale yellowish-green, which in the 1920s led to the nickname vaseline glass based on a perceived resemblance to the appearance of petroleum jelly as formulated and commercially sold at that time. Specialized collectors still define vaseline glass as transparent or semi-transparent uranium glass in this specific color.

Vaseline glass is now used as a synonym for any uranium glass, especially in the United States, but this usage is not universal. The term is sometimes carelessly applied to other types of glass based on certain aspects of their superficial appearance in normal light, regardless of actual uranium content which requires a blacklight test to verify the characteristic green fluorescence.

Thanks for the offer and the info. Interesting facts. I will message you.

Otherwise, no point in going further.

I emailed you about sending a sample.

I bought a black light torch on e bay for not very much and it has come in very useful.

I mentioned above that only these beads, when composed from greenish-yellow Vaseline glass should be called "Vaseline beads."

The fact that the beads in question are called by this name, even though they are different colors, is endemic in bead collecting. It is due to lazy thinking, and not having an easily-grasped name that is already proposed for the general type of bead.

All of these beads have one thing in-common—and that is they result from a specific beadmaking procedure. They are tong-molded, using a tong that had a fixed perforator—that gave the beads a distinct conical perforation. Later tongs were improved, and the perforators were spring-loaded/released, and provided straight perforations. So the beads with conical holes are earlier than those (similar-looking beads) with straight holes (as a generalization).

So, these are molded Bohemian/Czech beads, dating from ca. the mid-19th C. and later.

Clearly, it is easier to call all of the fixed-perforator beads "Vaseline beads." To have to resort to "Early fixed-perforator tong beads" would be too much of a mouthful. So that's why the name is misused in many instances.

Also, an early attempt to describe the process, by our colleague Lester Ross, was mistaken. He had a too-complicated process, demanding the use of a hammer to complete the perforations. His ideas were superseded by Elizabeth Harris who determined the actual process, and clearly explained WHY the fixed perforator was conical. This was because when the bead would be released from the tong, if the perforator were straight, it would damage the bead, due to traveling at an arching angle. A conical perforator relieved this possibility. And having a spring-released straight perforator also relieved that possibility.

In conclusion, the name has been applied to beads that are made in the same manner. It is not that the different colors are also uranium glass. Mostly they are not, as far as I know.

Jamey

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=%2Fopenforum%2F&tK=tong+molded+beadman&wT=1&yVz=yTz&aO=1&hIz=5000&hJz=4000&cmd=find&by=&xcfgfs=tK-wT-yVz-aO-hKz

Thanks for giving us more details and proper naming.
Here is a picture where bead one shows the small end and bead two shows the large end of the conical preforation. A few of the less worn beads show wrinkles on the outside which I presume are from being molded.

The poster did an experiment with paper and foil to see how penetrating the radiation was, with a somewhat disturbing result

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=get&cG=9313533303&zu=3931353330&v=2&gV=0&p=

Also a post on glowing green uranium glass under a UV light, as well as what could be cadmium yellow glowing oranger under UV.

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=iYz&aK=90979&iZz=90979&gV=0&kQz=&aO=1&iWz=0

And one more showing a few different types of radioactive Czech glass:
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=get&cG=9313433303&zu=3931343239&v=2&gV=0&p=

Uranium 238 is a beta particle emitter. The person doing the Geiger counter test erroneously thought that tinfoil would block beta emissions from the beads. The readings he got were for beta and possibly a tiny amount of alpha particles - those will be emitted from some of the other isotopes of uranium that exist in tiny amounts along side U-238. Alpha will be blocked by paper and foil.

For those of you that wear tinfoil hats, you may be interested to know that a very tiny percentage of beta particles will be stopped by the foil. The atomic collisions that stop them will emit x-rays. So by wearing your tinfoil hat you will be shooting some xrays into your brain. This isn’t bead related but I thought it was an interesting result since it may explain why people who wear tin foil hats can become crazy even if they weren’t crazy to begin with!

https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/vaseline.htm

Estimates of the Radiation Exposures

A very detailed analysis of the radiation exposures due to uranium in glassware can be found in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission publication “Systematic Radiological Assessment of Exemptions for Source and Byproduct Materials” (NUREG 1717).

There are three principal radiation exposure pathways associated with Vaseline glass:

1. Exposure to the body from the gamma rays emitted by radionuclides in the glass. ... [exposure tables follow]
2. Exposure to the hands from the beta particles emitted by radionuclides in the glass ... [another table]
3. Ingestion of uranium that has leached into food that has been in contact with the glass

https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/consumer.htm

It’s fairly expensive, though.

Tin foil of course was replaced by aluminum foil after WWII but a lot of people refer to aluminum foil as tin foil today, as a nod to the original composition.

Tin is approximately twice the density of aluminum so your hat will be heavier if you use tin. But it will provide more protection from electromagnetic radiation of all types. Not sure if tin will have the same behavior as aluminum with regards to emitting xrays when hit by beta particles. Should be researched before you start your chapeau project.