In February 1951, less than six years after the United States dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to bring World War II to a close, one of the largest toy companies in the world offered children a chance to play with its “Atomic Energy Lab.”
It surely didn’t have any radioactive material in the set? Uh, it actually did, which is why Radar Magazine in 2006 named it one of "the 10 most dangerous toys of all time.”
“Now It’s A Toy For Kiddies,” screamed a headline from the Vancouver News in May 1951. “Atomic Energy — That Is.”
The kit, which included a cloud chamber that allowed budding scientists to watch alpha particles traveling at 12,000 mph, also an electroscope that enabled the person playing with it to measure the radioactivity of different substances.
The maker, A.C. Gilbert, obtained the radioactive isotopes from the U.S. Atomic Commission, a government office created after World War II to further the use of safe, atomic energy during times of peace.
Not surprisingly, the toy didn’t have a long run. Not because kids took the radioactive material out of their containers, but because A.C. Gilbert said, by 1953, it became increasingly harder to get materials from the government.
With fewer than 5,000 sets made and the outrageousness of handing kids radioactive isotopes, the toy became a popular one for collectors over the past 25 years, with the set in the best condition selling for $12,980 at Hake’s in 2017.
A complete-in-box version closes at RR Auctions on Dec. 11. The current bid, as of Saturday morning, is $3,460 with buyer’s premium.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.