English Spode “Italian” pattern bowl: 65,100 ppm Lead + 2,211 Arsenic on the food surface. Do you have Spode at home?
Posted: Monday, March 16, 2020
Introduction: Tamara Rubin is an independent advocate for consumer goods safety, and she is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009 and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. She uses high-precision XRF testing (a scientific method used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for metallic contaminants – including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Arsenic. [bio link]
Spode “Italian” pattern bowl:
The full XRF test results of the Spode bowl pictured are below (so please scroll down). Here are links to some additional reading that may be of interest, based on your interest in the test results of this item:
- Click here to see more Spode items I have tested.
- Click here to see more vintage dishes that I have tested.
- Click here to see more “Made in England” items I have tested.
- Click here to read about why this much Lead in china can be a serious problem!
Stay Safe Out There!
A quick note from Tamara
Hey readers – I hope you are staying well out there with all that is going on in the world right now. I’m hanging out mostly at home with my children – and have been doing so for about 10 days now. I pulled them out of school over a week ago – just to be safe. Each of my three youngest sons have compromised immune systems (which manifests in different ways for each of them), due to having been Lead-poisoned as babies.
In between kid-wrangling I am working hard to publish literally HUNDREDS of new posts (with test results for various consumer goods I have tested over the past couple of years, but have not yet had a moment to report on!). These posts have created a backlog in my system for more than a year now – and it’s actually nice to have a *break* with some time to catch up! To make this happen as quickly as possible, I am (as with this post) simply posting the images and the test results – without a lot of additional information. [Do not worry — I will continue to update them with more information as I get caught up and begin to have the time!]
For those new to my website, please check out the menu in the header of the website for more information about how I test things (and my background, etc.) On each post you can also click on any of the keyword tabs at the top of the post to find more items in that category. Here’s the post discussing the type of testing I do, and the specific instrument I use to detect, analyze and confirm metals content, and ultimately produce the resultant data for each item reported here – link.
Please Note: Test results reported below are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Test results reported here are from tests that were done for a minimum of 60 seconds each, and repeated multiple times, to confirm the results. As with all the testing reported here on my blog, a freshly-calibrated high-precision XRF instrument testing in Consumer Goods mode was used to test the item pictured here.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Test results for the Spode bowl (Made in England) pictured on this post:
Spode bowl – food surface:
- Lead (Pb): 65,100 +/- 3,900 ppm
- Arsenic (As): 2,211 +/- 578 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 3,170 +/- 608 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 2,059 +/- 174
- Iron (Fe): 507 +/- 170 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 5,549+/- 1,424 ppm
Spode bowl – back surface:
- Lead (Pb): 36,500 +/- 1,800 ppm
- Arsenic (As): 2,389 +/- 393 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 2,380 +/- 498 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 1,149 +/- 105
- Iron (Fe): 671 +/- 154 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 4,684 +/- 1,186 ppm
~ End of Post ~
Scroll down for additional photos of this item.
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Well, people have been dining off this pattern all over the world since 1816. I have been using it every day for over 30 years. The Imperialware body currently in production dates from c.1833. There are no reports of deaths or serious illness associated with Spode’ Italian or any other Spode tableware patterns.
What I am far more concerned about – which would make an intetesting comparison test – is poor quality tableware from China and Asia where much 0f the painting and decoration is done overglaze (unlike Spode). Consequently you could be consuming lead, cadmium, zinc, and other heavy metals with your food. Not to mention gold, platimum or silver from the trims.
Hi Simon, Thanks for commenting.
Here are all the Spode dishes I have tested – new ones can be Lead-free or Lead-safe, older ones are very high lead: https://tamararubin.com/category/spode/
Here’s a post that further explains the concern of vintage Leaded pottery:
https://tamararubin.com/topics/does-vintage-and-new-functional-pottery-and-dishware-have-unsafe-levels-of-lead/
Here’s a post with some Made in China dishes from the Dollar Store that are Lead-free:
https://tamararubin.com/2020/06/dollar-tree-store-royal-norfolk-gray-cream-brown-ceramic-dish-lead-free-cadmium-free-arsenic-free/
Here’s a post with symptoms in adults (many symptoms that may result from long-term low level persistent lead exposure from a source like vintage dishes):
https://tamararubin.com/2017/01/what-is-the-impact-of-lead-poisoning-in-adults-including-college-age-students/
Tamara
WOW, thanks for what you did, do and will do on this! I was browsing the web and was really attracted by a Spode design(cup and saucer). But I wasn’t sure about their lead level. So glad to find your site and the results you tested. Very Very helpful and I appreciate that deeply!
I have collected Spode Giallo and Spode Blue Room British Flowers Poppy and or Blue Rose as well as Johnson Brothers English Castles. I love old China but need to keep my family safe. I have used many old tea cups over the years. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Also, thank you for this very important testing.
How old were these tested dishes? My parents are using this design and I am trying to understand if theirs is new enough to be less poisonous than the “vintage version”…. Thank you!
Vintage usually means 20+ years old. If I don’t note the age of the dishes in an article then I don’t know the age, but you can usually extrapolate if yours are of a similar age (to the ones I wrote about) by comparing the back marks.
Tamara
Wow, thank you so much for providing this information. Not only lead but also arsenic! I’m seriously horrified!
My Sicilian grandmother collected Spode Blue Italian pieces, which I’ve been keeping on display only. Recently, in memory of her, I bought several pieces of Spode Blue Italian dishware (2022) off of Wayfair and Amazon for daily use. I love the design and honoring her has filled my heart, but I NEVER imagined that contemporary dishware could contain lead and arsenic. How is Spode getting away with this?!
Also, how can consumers know which dishware lines are safe for daily use?
Thanks so much for the education and advocacy that you do.