Posted by Richard Zillman on July 14, 2013, 12:38 am
Do you believe there is a health danger from meals served on antique transferware? We recently served food on old transferware plates to guests who were concerned about lead poisoning. Your opinion, please.
Re: Health Question
Posted by David Hoexter TCC Web Admin. on July 14, 2013, 5:07 pm, in reply to "Health Question"
Maybe the Roman Empire did die out due to drinking wine stored in lead-lined vessels. But in my view, there is no real danger to use of your old transferware plates. I am not a health risk assessor, but I deal with and assess contaminated soil and water in my work. Lead may be leached by highly acidic foods, and thus I would not store any acidic food on older transferware, but the risk of ingesting any meaningful dose of lead from food in contact with a plate for just a few minutes is minimal or even non-existent. Today, with exposure to lead diminished compared to a few years ago, any incremental exposure from the occasional meal on an old transferware plate is probably not even measurable. So enjoy your old plates, and continue to use them!
I can't specifically address any health/toxicity issues regarding lead glazes from a technical standpoint though my hunch is along the lines of what David contributed. Nevertheless, a discovery at an archaeological dig on my family's pioneer homestead (1841) in Michigan might shed light on long term effects (or lack thereof). We had been wondering for some time why we would find sherds of 1850s blue transferware ("Sydenham" by Clementson) along with 1930s material. As it turns out, after talking with a great uncle, the family had been using the set (or at least parts of it) even when he was a kid into the 1930s. Since it appears that they had originally purchased the pattern in brown during the log cabin occupation (pre 1855) it now seems likely that they had been using at least some parts of the set for potentially 80+ years. Initial research suggests that manufacturing of the "Sydenham" pattern ended right around 1865. As far as I know, no detrimental health effects have been known in the family in regards to lead. A tureen with the Davenport Bros importer's mark was found in the china cabinet a couple of years ago. My guess is that the use of transferware sets over several decades was actually fairly common. If anyone has information on use longevity of transferwares, I would be very interested in it. I know that we use a set of dishes owned by wife's grandmother from the 1940s for special occasions. There not considered old at all, but still in use in the family for 70+ years. I've heard of much more extreme accounts where even material from the 1790s had been in use until very recently. Just off the top of my head, I seem to recall a 19th century account regarding the dangers of using lead in glazes - the concern was focused not on the finished product used by consumers but on the workers making the glazes who were inhaling lead oxide dust day after day. Given the widepsread use of lead glazed Staffordshire in the 19th century, it would seem to me that if there was a problem with lead exposure from using dishes several times a day, the problem would have manifested itself in a major way within the population. Just a thought.
Tim
Re: Health Question
Posted by Loren Zeller on July 20, 2013, 8:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Health Question"
I feel compelled to just add one note to all of the good comments above. While it may seem to be a common sense observation, you don't want to put lead-based glazed transferware pieces in the microwave! The danger will be to the plate, not to someone who uses it.