Many of us commemorate grow up with questionable toys that would not make it onto the shelves today – whether they would not be deemed appropriate for kids today or contained potentially harmful materials that made them a wellness risk . Now , a vintage plaything adjust that was once listed as one of the " most dangerous miniature of all time " is up for sales event – though only one is up for grab to eager auction bridge - goers .
The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory was a toy science lab set produced in 1950 and 1951 that allowed kids to make and watch nuclear and chemical reaction in their own home . The play set , create by Alfred Carlton Gilbert , was designed to be fun and educational for kids while also helping to heighten the public ’s overall understanding of atomic vim and the Atomic Age .
The toy dog science lab , house in a red beating-reed instrument suitcase , contained four sampling of U ore : autunite , torbernite , uraninite , and carnotite . It also came with an electroscope for measuring radiation levels , a spinthariscope for visualizing radioactive radioactive decay on a screen , and a cloud bedchamber that offers the viewer evidence of alpha particles as they move through a swarm of vapor .
The proprietor of this set would have memory access to the original “ Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual ” , and a “ Prospecting for Uranium ” guidebook that was published by the US Atomic Energy Commission and US Geological Survey . It also contains a copy ofDagwood Splits the Atom , a comic that explain atomic structure and how to make a nuclear chain reaction ( in principle , not in praxis ) .
Gilbert was something of a toy famous person in the first part of the 20thcentury . He was oncecelebratedas “ the man who saved Christmas ” when he convinced the US Council of National Defence not to shun the purchasing of toys when so many other item had been sacrificed in wartime . Gilbert championed toy that combined education with fun , and hop sets like his Atomic Energy Laboratory would inspire the scientist of the future .
However , by the fifties , Gilbert appear to be increasingly out of tinge with what post - war children want . In the destruction , few than 5,000 sets of the lab were sold between 1950 and 1951 , after which they were quit .
The outfit on sale now even has a notewrittenby Gilbert stating “ We regret exceedingly to advise you that we have discontinued manufacture this Laboratory and it was very hard to obtain some of the stuff and also due to Government confinement . ”
In 2006 , Radar Magazine describe the science lab set as one of “ the 10 most dangerous toys of all clip ” , because of the radioactive materials it contained . However , in 2020 , the JournalIEEE Spectrumanalyzed the toy and suggested that it was about as risky as UV picture from spending a daytime in the sun – that is , as long as the material stayed in their container .
The auction bridge is open until December 12 , 2024 , and , at the prison term of publishing , the lab has a bidding price of $ 12,000
