Radioactive

My house cannot be attributed to any particular design aesthetic unless "Late Garage Sale Era" is a thing. 

For a while I focused on Mid-century modern pieces like this lamp, this 1950's Artcraft cabinet and this 1966 RCA Vistat stereo (converted to a media center).  

Of course, I had other era pieces as well such as this 1918 Æolian-Vocalion phonograph and this 1941 Trutone radio.  And I use appliances that span from the 1910's to the 1970's like these toasters and coffee pots. 

Wow, that paragraph was link heavy. But my point is, I'm all over the board when it comes to decorating.  The only common theme is I decorate with things I like.

So when I saw this 1920's Art Deco dining room furniture, combined with a price tag that couldn't be beat (it was 50% off day and I got them to come down even more), I caved. Excuse the askew pictures.  It was hard to photograph the full piece with the limited angle I had.

I know, what does this all have to do with Halloween?

Well, aside from creating a place to stage my various vintage Halloween items (no, I'm not done decorating), I bought the china cabinet with a mind toward a place to display my small collection of Uranium glass.

I thought it would be a good accent to my Halloween decorations.

It does give the room an eerie glow.

Plus radiation is scary, right?  Actually, the amount of radiation given off by Uranium glass (yes, it really contains radioactive Uranium) is neglible.  No more than you might encounter from your cell phone or smoke detectors in your home.  However, the EPA does discourage you from eating or drinking out of it because why chance it? I guess that means you can't eat off your your cell phone either.

The furniture was made by the Wemyss Furniture company of Evansville, Indiana which existed between 1917 and 1929.  

It was inspected and approved "A Good Piece of Furniture" by L. Anito(?).

Prices for Uranium glass have climbed steadily in the past few years as more people have discovered it.  I do still manage to find it at garage and estate sales though.  Sometimes it's hard to tell if a piece is Uranium or just green depression glass. But sometimes the Uranium content is so high, you can see it glowing even in the daylight like this 1920's candy dish I found recently. I'm starting to get a pretty good eye for it.

Uranium glass dates back further than you might think.  It was used by the Romans in mosaics as early as 79 AD.  It was rediscovered in the 1700's and became popular in the 1800's, peaking in the early 20th century before falling out of favor post WWII.  It is sometimes mistakenly called "Vasoline Glass" which also contains Uranium, but has a yellow hue, hence the nickname.

You can read more about Uranium glass here.