In the late 1700´s a pharmacist named Klaproth discovered the element uranium and later pointed out that its salts could be used as colouring material.

Within forty years of his discovery, production of glass coloured with uranium had grown into a profitable industry. Every form of glassware in various fluorescent shades of green and yellow was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries: Wine and liquor glasses, decanters, lampshades, bowls, figurines, even laboratory reagent flasks...Especially valuable were hand-blown glass pieces decorated with intricate engravings, etchings or hand-painted.

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