Uranium glass

Uranium glass or vaseline glass or canary glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting for colouration. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% uranium by weight, although some 20th-century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium.

First identified in 1789 by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, uranium was soon being added to decorative glass for its fluorescent effect. James Powell's Whitefriars Glass company in London, England, was one of the first to market the glowing glass, but other manufacturers soon realised its sales potential and uranium glass was produced across Europe and later the United States.

Uranium glass was made into tableware and household items, but fell out of widespread use when the availability of uranium to most industries was sharply curtailed during the Cold War in the 1940s to 1990s, with the vast majority of the world's uranium supply being utilised as a strategic material for use in nuclear weapons or nuclear power. Most uranium glass is now considered to be antiques or retro-era collectables, although there has been a minor revival in glass art. Otherwise, modern uranium glass is now mainly limited to small objects like beads or marbles as scientific or decorative novelties.

The normal colour 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.

The most common color of uranium glass is pale yellowish-green, which in the 1930s led to the nickname "Vaseline glass", based on a perceived resemblance to the appearance of Vaseline-brand petroleum jelly as formulated at that time. Specialized collectors still define Vaseline glass as transparent or semi-transparent uranium glass in this specific color.

Vaseline glass is sometimes used as a synonym for any uranium glass, especially in the United States, but this usage is frowned upon, since Vaseline-brand petroleum jelly was only yellow, not other colors. The term is sometimes 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.

In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term Vaseline glass can be used to refer to any type of translucent glass.

Several other common subtypes of uranium glass have their own nicknames: