Uranium glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting for coloration. 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. Uranium glass was once 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. Most such objects are now considered antiques or retro-era collectibles, although there has been a minor revival in art glassware. Otherwise, modern uranium glass is now mainly limited to small objects like beads or marbles as scientific or decorative novelties.
Most Uranium glass pieces that you find today are still radioactive, as Uranium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years and that of uranium-235 is 704 million years, making them useful in dating the age of the Earth. Though alpha particles are fairly harmless to humans, even with long term exposure, these pieces will still emit long after humans are gone. Normal background range of radiation is between 0-50 cpm, Uranium glass will range from 50-100 cpm depending on the amount of Uranium in the glass.
Uranium Glass is mainly seen as black light reactive green, but there are other colors ranging from a pale yellow, to pink, to orange. The non-green ones are less in numbers so they are more highly sought after. Uranium glass has several nicknames including Vaseline Glass which has a similar distinctive color.
To read more about collecting: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/these-people-love-to-collect-radioactive-glass/?fbclid=IwAR2dJpVSbt3eQrE4nsvSaiBXriRtb1bhCZG9nEpilMEh_sfVr4v2U7YQ9G4
Here is some of our pieces we currently have for the museum.