Introduction (for those new to this website):
Tamara Rubin is a federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using XRF testing (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.
XRF Test results for the ornament pictured
Note: This ornament came in an original vintage/antique box of Shiny Brite ornaments (see more photos below) but has a plastic cap that says “West Germany”. I don’t know if the cap was changed later because the original cap fell off or if the ornament was in the wrong box (and is – in fact – not a Shiny Brite ornament and not made in the USA.) If you have any additional information about this ornament please do comment below.
Reading #1) On the white of the star
30-second reading
- Lead (Pb): 175,500 +/- 6,600 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): 69 +/- 16 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 642 +/- 259 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 858 +/- 147 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 92 +/- 43 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 30,700 +/- 1,100 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 626 +/- 44 ppm
- Nb: 819 +/- 57 ppm
- Molybdenum (Mo): 898 +/- 80 ppm
- Silver (Ag): 1,915 +/- 117 ppm
- Antimony (Sb): 279 +/- 37 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 14,400 +/- 900 ppm
- No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.
More details to be posted shortly.
I have a Christmas tree ornament that is gold with white glitter stars and a plastic cap marked Made in West Germany. This ornament is identical to the blue one pictured in your article except for the color difference. This ornament was in a ziplock bag with several other old ornaments at a resale store. Three of the other ornaments were obviously old but unmarked. Three others in the bag were old glass ball ornaments marked Shiny Brite on the cap and all the caps were metal except for the plastic one marked West Germany. Since they were in a ziplock bag, it’s impossible to know how they were packaged originally but they were all decorated differently except for two of the ones marked Shiny Brite. I have many vintage and/or antique ornaments but none of them have a plastic cap except the one West Germany. I don’t know if any of this information is helpful to you. I’m located in Arkansas and it’s fairly easy to purchase old ornaments at yard sales and resale stores very cheaply. I have stopped buying because I have so many but I will keep an eye out for packaged ornaments to see if there are more around here with various markings in the same box and appear original to that box.