If you love collecting old toys, you may have just missed your opportunity to own one of the most unique, and dangerous, toys in history.
An auction for the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory closed on December 11, 2024, selling for $16,500.
What makes the toy so unique?
Well, to start with it was once ranked as one of the 10 most dangerous toys of all time.
The toy was made in 1950 and 1951, and allowed children to play with and run experiments with four samples of uranium ores. This included autunite, torbernite, uranite, and carnotite.
Needless to say, people at that time did not realize just how dangerous these radioactive materials could be. Fortunately, only a small amount of each one was included in the kit. The amounts have been tested by the Journal IEEE Spectrum and they found that using this kit would expose you to about the same amount of radioactivity as spending a day in the sun.
Of course, if a child broke open the containers, that could go up significantly.
Children who got one of these kits would be able to perform a number of experiments. It came with an electroscope, which let them measure radiation levels. It also had a spinthariscope so that they could get a visual readout of the radioactive decay that was taking place.
Perhaps most fun of all was the cloud chamber. This allowed a viewer to see the alpha particles moving through the chamber that was filled with vapor.
While this toy would never be able to be put on the shelves today, it is an iconic part of history that any toy collector would be proud to have. As long as they kept it in a safe place.
I can’t believe people actually let kids play with these.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.