Not much to look at these days but still an interesting find!!

[Squirrel322]

I recently dug a Lone Ranger Atomic Bomb ring that has sadly seen much better days. Still, in its glory days this was a pretty interesting piece so I thought I would share a bit about it.



These rings were a KIX cereal mail-away promotion from 1947. Inside the bomb was a "Spinthariscope", which you could view by removing the red-fin end cap. What is a Spinthariscope? From Wikipedia - "A spinthariscope is a device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor (see radioluminescence) or scintillator."

So, inside this ring was a basically a radioactive kaleidoscope which was powered by polonium.

Polonium has few applications, and those are related to its radioactivity: heaters in space probes, antistatic devices, sources of neutrons and alpha particles, and poison. It is a radioactive element, and extremely dangerous to humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium

Polonium was what Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with in 2006.

Unfortunately (or fortunately maybe) none of the spinthariscopes inside these rings work today. Polonium has an extremely short half life and (to my understanding) these rings pose no toxicity danger today. None the less, for peace of mind and considering the rings condition, I will probably be discarding mine.........

 

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[Jeff H]

Very cool find. I'd hold on to it.

 

[vpnavy]

Neat find Squirrel. Thanks for sharing...

 

[TomW244]

Very cool find. I'd hold on to it.

I agree with Jeff. There's no way I'd get rid of that!

 

[Reanm8er]

Bravo Squirrel, this is one bad cereal promo toy. Great recovery and presentation! BANNER!

 

[Hawks88]

Interesting read. Congrats on the save.

 

[washingtonian]

This seems so insensitive these days hahaha. Great and interesting find.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Those nuclear scientists. They're such jokers. Polonium. Ha Ha Ha. The kids will LOVE it!

 

[Inspector]

Pretty cool recovery, good condition for a toy of that age, we all have to draw the line on what to keep & that would make the keepers list. Congrats & HH

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Awesome find, congrats!

 

[Digger RJ]

Cool!!! Congrats!!!

 

[A2coins]

That is really cool I would keep it clean it and display it.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Get some lead sheeting and fashion a small box. You'll be safe! Gary

 

[Reanm8er]

I have a spark plug box around here somewhere from a company that made them with Polonium electrodes. I understand a
few mechanics got rad poisoning from them. The instrument company I worked for had previously been located in Long
Island City. They got in major trouble when a 5 Gal bucket of Radium paint fell out of the back of a truck and burst. Had
a lot of "splainin" to do!

 

[Trezurehunter]

That's a nice find Squirrel. If it were mine, it would be going in a display case with some of my other "promotional toy" finds.

 

[islamoradamark]

thanks for the pics and the history lesson thats somptin youls see on American Pickers

 

[xcopperstax]

That is amazing! Very cool find there! and a fascinating story!