Vaseline Beads

Vaseline beads come from West Africa, and were made beginning in the early 1900's. Originally, these African Vaseline beads were made from glass that was enriched in 1-2% uranium oxide in order to enhance the color, causing the green and yellow ones to fluoresce brightly under a blacklight. But the use of uranium was banned in the 1940's. Although Vaseline beads come from and are used in Africa, they were manufactured in Bohemia and Czechoslovakia.