What radioactive things can be found in the op shop or antiques store

[The Aussie Boy]

Could anyone make a list of radioactive things that are found at the op shop or antique store (Plutonium I'm looking for you and I have sent you some stuff on the PMs)


kind regards
Harry

[Plutonium]

Sorry for the late reply,
 I haven't logged on for quite a while.
The list of radioactive stuff you can find in antique shops is quite large. There are lots of things that have Uranium, Thorium, Radium, Promethium and Tritium.
  The best place to see what people have found is in a facebook group all "Radioactive Minerals and Objects".

[Clarky]

Smoke detectors use radioactive material.
 

[Plutonium]

Smoke Detectors typically have Am241.  Some of the collectable ones from USA had Radium in them. But the real winners are Russian smoke detectors which contain Plutonium 241.
They can often be found for less than $50usd, but recently a USA element dealer was selling them for $5000usd each, set in resin to people who didn't know better.

There is a lot of Uranium Glass out there with it's typical Green glow. There is also yellow vaseline Uranium glass. Some rarer versions are blue, pink and brown.
Uranium glaze pottery. It's often cream colour and glows green under UV light.

Thorium gas lantern mantles, thorium camera lenses, thorium glass plates and thoriated welding rods and vacuum tubes. 

Radium clocks, watches, aircraft dials, as well as a whole range of quack devices like revigators.  I've even found a Radium hair brush from the 1920's.

And there is a huge list of minerals that are radioactive and quite a lot more that are verifiable by their activity. Like a lot of mexican minerals are active.

[Ghost]

I WAS looking forward to starting Radiation Therapy today.
Until I was told that I WON"T glow in the dark afterwards.
Ghost.

[Faceting Frank]

I can remember my parents buying a Xmas tree decoration back in the 1950s that glowed in the dark. Don't know how popular they were at the time. It was made from translucent plastic.

[Manficat]

Could be wrong but i heard that zircon can contain traces of radioactive elements

[swirly]

true

[Rusted]

I looked into this a while ago, most Zircons around the world are Radioactive enough some will disintegrate after being cut, apparently our Mud Tank Zircons are not particularly Radioactive and much more stable.

Sorry no reference for that, I have no idea now where I read it.

I can remember going to a hot spring near Arkaroola many years ago, the reason it was hot was because of Radioactivity, For a short time there was a health spa there where you could bath and take in the rejuvenating Radon gas. I doubt they had many customers, it was a long rough trip to get there.

[Manficat]

Gosh, maybe i should stop collecting zircons 

[Ghost]

You can send all your zircons to me if you want to play it really safe.
Ghost.

[Manficat]

Good idea 

[Ghost]

4th radiation treatment this morning. 16 more to go.
Radioactive zircons would feel right at home.
Ghost.

[Faceting Frank]

I can remember seeing on TV a program about how they used to paint wristwatch pointers with radioactive paint so they glowed in the dark. Some of the girls who were doing the painting thought it was fun to put some on their lips so they glowed in the dark. Maybe you can rub some of your zircons on certain parts of your body so it glowed in the dark Manficat. 

[Manficat]

Then I won't even need my nightlight anymore!