This vintage (c. 1940s?) Hanson Nursery Scale captures the scope of the historic pervasive footprint of lead paint in one single simple object.

This vintage (c. 1940s?) Hanson Nursery Scale captures the scope of the historic pervasive footprint of lead paint in one single simple object…

…a BABY SCALE painted with leaded paint.

Really I don’t know that any more needs to be said about this.

The paint on this piece was just about 4,500 ppm lead when tested with an XRF instrument. The amount of lead that is considered illegal (and toxic) in a newly manufactured item intended for use by children is anything that tests positive for 90 ppm lead (or higher) in the paint or coating.

Read more about XRF testing here.

Here are the exact XRF readings for this object:

• Lead (Pb): 4,479 +/- 197 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): Non-Detect
• Mercury (Hg): Non-Detect
• Arsenic (As): Non-Detect
• Tin (Sn): 122 +/- 45 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 1,734 +/- 194 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 444 +/- 162 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 671,400 +/- 5,500 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 299,600 +/- 5,700 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 17,700 +/- 1,400 ppm
• Magnesium (Mn): 1,746 +/- 542 ppm

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

Thank you for reading and for sharing!

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama