The Vintage Glassware You Might Not Realize Contains Lead

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Got gifted a set of etched vintage glassware that your grandparents told you they've had since forever? Or did you just score some old crystal pieces for cheap at the local flea market? Vintage glassware tends to be very charming due to its sparklier look and a heft that makes it feel like it can last forever. But these gorgeous pieces have a secret that might surprise (or terrify) you: their sparkle and nice weight in the hand might actually come from lead.

Vintage glassware is usually made from lead crystal, which can contain anywhere from 18% to 40% lead oxide, according to a study in ScienceDirect. They're generally safe for use as long as they're not chipped and you don't eat, drink, or store anything acidic within them, like wine or a vinegary salad; if you do, some of the lead in the crystal can leak and enter your body.

Lead exposure in any form or amount is harmful, but the good news is that if you've drunk wine once or twice from your old crystal wine glass, the amount you're exposed to each time should be quite small. It's only a problem if you're unaware and use it very regularly, which can cause lead to build up inside the body and, in high enough concentration, can lead to lead poisoning. It's no joke — from vomiting to weakness and seizures in adults to developmental issues in children — people no longer use lead crystal glassware for a reason.

The history of leaded glass is an old one, stretching all the way back to Mesopotamia in 1400 B.C. When lead is added, glass melts at a lower temperature (saving precious fuel) and remains soft and shapeable for longer — no surprise that it became glassmakers' darling. But the biggest reason for its popularity has to be its colors. Due to lead oxide's high refractive index, lead-infused glass can act like a prism. When light enters the glass, it breaks into a colorful rainbow-like band.

Easier to work with and the products are prettier and sell better — what's not to like? Lead glassware notably blew up after 1674, when George Ravenscroft figured out how to mass-produce it. All the way until the late 20th century, lead glassware was everywhere — you'll have a hard time finding a glass or a decanter from before the '70s without lead in it.

We mentioned the late '70s because that's when the government and the public began to wake up to the dangers of lead, when cases of poisonings and birth defects rose due to leaded gasoline. The FDA started warning consumers to avoid anything made from lead crystal, and this is why, thankfully, most modern glass manufacturers have turned away from lead oxide toward safer additives like zinc oxide. That's how all that glassware you found on the shelves still looks brilliant despite the "lead-free" labeling!

A great scientific way to know if your glass is leaded is with a lead testing kit. They can be found for quite cheap online, like this Scitus Know Understand 90 Count Test Lead Kit. But they have one notable drawback: These swabs are only effective at detecting surface-level lead (like if the glass is painted or glazed with a layer of lead). Meanwhile, lots of vintage glasses have lead cooked right into the crystal structure. Unfortunately, the only surefire way to tell with these is to send it to a National Lead Laboratory-accredited lab for testing, available via the EPA.

If that's too much trouble, the good news is that leaded glassware has a couple of quirks that you can use to tell it apart from regular glass. Tap it lightly, and if the glass gives a long, echoey ring, that's leaded glass. Regular glass just gives a dull "clink" and it's done. Another dead giveaway is its colors. When you shine a light into it, if the color refracts and splits into a lot of different colors, lead might be in there.

Physically, leaded glassware tends to feel heavier in the hand (lead is, after all, a heavy metal). You can hold it together with a similarly-sized piece of glassware to check. If you only suspect and aren't 100% sure that it's leaded glassware, the best course of action is to use that heirloom (or thrift-hunted) vintage glassware as decor and avoid serving anything in them.