#Leaded: Vintage/ Antique Glass Marbles with Yellow and White Swirl

Yellow and white swirled glass vintage marble: 2,364 ppm Lead!

The amount of Lead considered toxic in the substrate of a newly manufactured item intended for use by children is anything 100 ppm Lead or higher. This sample was tested in 2014 with an XRF instrument. The year of manufacture and brand for this marble are unknown.

Once I learned that even new marbles could have high levels of Lead (including the squashed marbles often called “dragon tears” and used as counters in the Waldorf School environment), I decided to stop letting my children play with them on a regular basis until they were fully past the stage of putting things in their mouths.

I have probably tested hundreds of marbles over the years and I have found that the new ones with iridescent coatings are often high in Lead and so I specifically try to avoid those, as the chance of exposure to a child is potentially greater if the Lead is in the coating (vs. the substrate/ the main component of the glass for the marbles).

To see more toys I have tested, click here.

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

Sincerely,

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

For those new to the Lead Safe Mama 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 four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).

• Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a unique community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
• Since July 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for six product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
• All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
• Please check out our press page to see some of the news coverage of our work, linked here.