I haven't read the entire thread, but do find your hobbies interesting. I not too long ago learned about UV fluorescing glassware, and realized we already had some in the china hutch! Now I always carry a small 1aaa 365nm and check thrift stores for more.
Do you have a leaded glass hutch for the uranium pieces? That 1065 reading is in the "get out of there" range, but not quite "call the gov't" range, lol. I'm sure the lady at the desk keeping it for you would not be amused to know what she was holding!
I bet that mug does keep the coffee "hot" though!
Thanks for your comments, TorqueMaster! KT has a fair number of Vaseline glass (U glass) items, 7 or 8, and all are on the edge of having any significant radiation, tho they do fluoresce nicely. A few entries above find some notes about Czech Republic Vaseline glass beads and see what they register and how brightly green they fluoresce!
Just because I hold the counter essentially on the ceramic object and get a high reading does not mean it is dangerous. Remember, if that reading is 1000 at 1/4 inch, when I move to 1/2" away, it will be 250, and if I move to 1" away, it will be below 80 CPM So 2" away, it will be well below 50, which is considered in normal background. The tested normal background in my basement is 17 CPM, even if it was 40 that is nothing to be concerned about. And of the 3 principle types of radiation, alpha is so weak it is stopped by a piece of paper or even plastic wrap. Low energy beta is stopped by your skin, it is only high energy beta and gamma radiation that is high enough energy to penetrate your body, but if one is a foot away, it has little danger. This is why owning a naturally radioactive rock is not regulated by the Federal Government, nor is any of that Vaseline glass or the radioactive pottery. They just suggest you not eat or drink from any of the glassware or ceramic pieces or inhale any dust from radioactive mineral specimens.
Say you cut some fresh tomatoes and put the slices on one of those pieces, because tomatoes are an acid food, they can leach the surface of the glassware or the ceramic cup, and you then ingest it. Ingesting anything radioactive, is dangerous, because it will chemically bond with the phosphate in your bones and then it stays there, just like lead does.
But KT bought these objects to collect them, HA HA, not to use them to serve food. Their only use will be when He gives talks to groups about radioactivity. These days many people get scared about radioactivity, and they never learn we live in a radioactive environment our entire life, I like to call it radioactive soup! When KT turns on a geiger counter in a closed room, cosmic rays, which are super high energy particles, will make it tick. KT has actually had people act like it was a terrible thing! It is part of nature, understanding it is much better than being scared of it! Most of the people KT talks to in mineral clubs and such have some basic understanding of radiation, and hope they never get over exposed. Basically the only way to do that nowadays is to go to nuclear test sites, which the US Government restricts access to, to be around a melt down of a nuclear reactor, or to live on top of some radon gas emitting soil or spring and have poor ventilation of your home!
And your comment about the sales lady HA HA ...She wanted me to check her with my geiger counter, as she had a test a couple of days before called a PET scan. As a cancer test, a nurse injects you with a radioactive sugar solution after you fast for at least 12 hours. Then they have you sit quietly for 1 hour, so any cancer cells will take up the sugar, then they run a whole body scan that sees the concentrations of the radioactive sugar in your cells. Since cancer cells grow very rapidly and need lots of sugar to grow, they show up on the scan as light colored spots against a black background. KT had several of those scans during cancer treatments, and annually for the first 5 years after being cured. Fortunately, the half life of that radioactive isotope is only a couple of hours, so when I checked her, she gave no hot reading! I did have an instance when I worked that a gentleman came in and wanted to know if we had a geiger counter. Because I kept it in my office they called me down to deal with him. He told me he had prostate cancer and the VA had implanted some radioactive seeds in him, and he wanted to confirm he was hot! Seems that the VA had also accidentally implanted some non-radioactive seeds in a couple of guys and he wanted to know if he had the real deal. He did. I warned him not to let his grandchildren or great grands sit on his lap until the seeds were removed. He seemed very happy when he left! HA HA
