Royal Norfolk Ceramic Snowman Christmas Mug: 1007 ppm Lead + 539 ppm Cadmium (90 ppm Lead, 40 ppm Cadmium is unsafe)

 

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This Royal Norfolk “Made in China” snowman mug tested positive for Lead and cadmium at the following levels (note, the year of manufacture is unknown, however, I don’t believe this is very old).

Here’s a link to this exact piece on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Qnone7.

• To see more Royal Norfolk pieces I have tested, click HERE.
• To see more Christmas decorative pieces I have tested, click HERE.
• To see more Christmas mugs I have tested, click HERE.

Green Glaze:
Lead (Pb): 198 +/- 27 ppm
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Red Glaze:
Lead (Pb): 939 +/- 68 ppm
Cadmium (Cd): 539 +/- 39 ppm*
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White Glaze:
Lead (Pb): 97 +/- 20 ppm

Since I originally published this piece, I have learned that this brand and type of Christmas Mug is sold at Dollar Tree and similar stores. (You can also buy it on Amazon! LINK.)

Tested with an XRF instrument, this item was negative for arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg).

*Red glaze is often positive for high levels of cadmium (Cd). You might remember your paint colors from grade school (depending on how old you are!)… “Cadmium yellow,” “Cadmium red,” and “Cadmium orange,” were common colors back in the day! (Just as was/ is “Lead white.”)

To learn more about Cadmium toxicity, click HERE.

By modern standards, the amount of Lead considered toxic in an item intended to be used by children is 90 ppm Lead (or higher) in the glaze or coating and 100 ppm Lead (or higher) in the substrate (in the case of mugs, the ceramic).

If you would like to see more posts like this, please consider contributing in support of our independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead poisoning prevention advocacy work. Any amount is welcome and you can chip in here. Thank you!

Thank you for reading and for sharing this work.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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*Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on one of our links, Lead Safe Mama, LLC will receive a small percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our advocacy work in this way. With items like this one, we ARE NOT suggesting or recommending you buy it. The Amazon link for this product is shared here solely so you can see it “in the wild.”