Uranium glass: how to identify it, what it is, and whether it is safe

Uranium glass is glass colored with uranium oxide, usually a yellow-green that glows bright green under an ultraviolet (black) light. That UV glow is the most reliable home test. Radiation measurements summarized by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities museum show doses far below natural background at normal distances, but its curator advises against using it for food or drink.

By the Antique ID team · Updated 2026-10-13

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What uranium glass is

The Corning Museum of Glass defines uranium glass simply as glass colored with uranium oxide. It finds the earliest reference in 1817 and credits the glassmaker Josef Riedel with popularizing it from 1834; its dictionary links the yellow and green varieties known as Annagelb and Annagrün. The Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity adds that "canary glass" was the 1840s name for what collectors now call Vaseline glass, a term that probably dates only from the 1950s.

Uranium went into many kinds of glass: transparent tableware and vases, opaque custard and Burmese glass, pressed glass of the Depression era, and kitchen glass. According to ORAU, Vaseline glass often contains about 2% uranium by weight, while some glass from the early 1900s held as much as 25%.

How to identify it

1. Use a UV (black) light in a dark room. ORAU calls this the most reliable test: a rich green glow indicates uranium.
2. Do not rely on color. ORAU notes that yellow glass colored with other additives, such as cerium oxide, can look identical in daylight, and that a few uranium pieces barely fluoresce.
3. Then date it by other evidence. The glow identifies the colorant, not the age or maker. Pattern, shape, marks and manufacturing evidence (mold seams, polished or unpolished rims) do the dating. See Depression glass identification and carnival glass.

Vaseline, custard and jadeite

The jadeite distinction comes from Michigan State University's Campus Archaeology Program, which dated a glowing jadeite fragment to before 1943 on the basis that civilian uranium use was heavily regulated from 1942 to 1958, and that McKee (from 1930) and Jeannette used uranium while Fire-King did not.

How dates help, and their limits

ORAU describes a roughly 15-year pause in uranium glass production beginning around the Second World War, with production resuming in 1959 using depleted uranium, which is less radioactive. A federal study it cites counted at least 4,160,000 decorative pieces made in the U.S. from 1958 to 1978. So a glowing piece is not automatically old: uranium glass has been made, mainly for collectors, for decades since. Treat the glow as one clue and let pattern and manufacture settle the date.

Safety: what the agencies say

ORAU summarizes Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates (NUREG-1717) for glass containing 10% uranium:

• Gamma exposure at one foot is about 0.0009 mrem per hour for a drinking glass and about 0.0018 mrem per hour for a decorative piece, against typical natural background of about 0.01 mrem per hour.
• The highest estimated dose, about 4 mrem a year, went to workers transporting large quantities of glassware, which ORAU puts at about 1 to 2% of an average American's annual radiation exposure.
• Studies of leaching found measurable but small amounts of uranium in acidic liquid left in uranium glass.

Under federal regulation 10 CFR 40.13, glassware is exempt from NRC licensing if it contains no more than 2% source material by weight, or 10% for glassware made before August 27, 2013. ORAU's guidance is to handle uranium glass with care like any radioactive product and not to use it as dinnerware or drinkware.

What drives value

The same factors as other glass: maker and pattern, age, form (large vases and figures versus common tumblers), strength of color and glow, and condition. A strong glow adds appeal for display collectors but does not make a common piece rare.

Next steps

Test the piece under a black light, then scan it with Antique ID for a likely maker, pattern and estimated value range. An estimate is not an appraisal; for a signed or unusual piece, ask a glass specialist.

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