Bauer Vintage Celadon Pottery, Los Angeles: 210,800 ppm Lead (21%!). Context: 90 ppm is unsafe for kids.
This is a set of Bauer Vintage Celadon Pottery, Made In Los Angeles and purchased at an antique store in Portland, Oregon in 2017. When tested with an XRF instrument each of the pieces tested positive for the elements at the levels shown below.
Note: the lead levels below are VERY HIGH, and I would not consider these safe for food use purposes. All Bauer pottery that I have tested has been very high lead.
Click here to see more of my posts for
vintage Bauer pieces I have tested.
Click here to read about my concern for lead in functional pottery.
Bauer Los Angeles Tea Cup
- Lead (Pb): 193,300 +/- 13,000 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 580 +/- 284 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 7,826 +/- 865 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 29,100 +/- 2,000 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 6,704 +/- 554 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 44,200 +/- 4,100 ppm
Bauer Los Angeles Saucer
- Lead (Pb): 191,500 +/- 13,000 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 680 +/- 269 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 29,900 +/- 2,000 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 4,281 +/- 383 ppm
- Iron (F): 3,072 +/- 501 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 36,200 +/- 3,200 ppm
Bauer Los Angeles Salad Plate
- Lead (Pb): 202,300 +/- 14,000 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 890 +/- 310 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 4,901 +/- 572 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 31,000 +/- 2,200 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 6,679 +/- 573 ppm
- Iron (F): 2,196 +/- 464 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 44,800 +/- 4,300 ppm
Bauer Los Angeles Dinner Plate
- Lead (Pb): 210,800 +/- 16,000 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 805 +/- 328 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 5,243 +/- 652 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 32,600 +/- 2,500 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 7,123 +/- 648 ppm
- Iron (F): 1,989 +/- 479 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 43,500 +/- 4,500 ppm
As always, please let me know if you have any questions!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
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I have a few Bauer pieces I love but don’t use for food. Should I get rid of them anyways since they had lead? Seems like I should. Is all California pottery likely lead contaminated at high levels circa this time period?
I’ve been collecting Bauer and all the other solid color pottery from that era since 1977. I used to eat from my Harlequin Pottery and my cat, who lived to be almost 20, ate and drank out of chipped vintage Bauer pottery her entire life. I drank coffee out of early Catalina mugs for about 5 years. I did a bit of pre-internet research back then and ended up learning that they didn’t feel it was dangerous unless you were using acidic foods on the pottery. I didn’t use my Bauer for eating because it was really valuable in the pre-internet days (1977 – 1987) and stopped using my Catalina after breaking one of the mugs. I’m now 72 and very healthy, my cats still eat from these pieces and all have lived to be at least 17, so it’s hard for me to say that I would be afraid to use this pottery, especially if it was just once in a while. I have no fear of having it near me and my entire house is packed with it. So far, so good.
Hi Jan, thank you for commenting. I don’t think anyone should have fear of anything in life… fear is a waste of time. I do think the Lead levels in these pieces are so extremely high that one cannot know if they are leaching or not because one cannot know their usage patterns over their many decades of life. When Lead-free dishes are inexpensive and plentiful, for me it’s not worth the risk. My mom died unexpectedly of cancer at your age – out of the blue. Things happen. The impact of Lead exposure is cumulative . Women fare better than men with low level chronic exposure (except in some areas – like birth complications, infertility and low-birthweight in newborns.)
I would encourage you to read this post:
https://tamararubin.com/2017/01/what-is-the-impact-of-lead-poisoning-in-adults-including-college-age-students/
Which is linked here:
https://tamararubin.com/2019/12/what-are-the-symptoms-of-lead-poisoning-in-adults-in-children/
and this post:
https://tamararubin.com/2015/02/fine/
Chronic lead exposure is unlikely to kill – but causes an increased risk of dementia, heart disease and kidney disease. For me it is not worth the risk when there are too many unknowns… so I choose inexpensive Lead-free dishes for my family.
If you have not yet watched my film it gives context – direct from the top scientists and researchers on the subject:
https://tamararubin.com/2021/01/my-film-passed-300000-views-on-youtube-today-heres-the-link-to-watch-it-if-you-have-not-yet/
Tamara
Have you tested any modern Bauer pieces?