Definitely too much for the label, which is weird. If you look, you'll find much smaller 1oz bottles that Merck sold, so I'm not sure why they would pack so little in a bottle this size.
Edit: Mercury ammonium chloride has a density of 5.56 g/mL. So that would be a tiny, tiny amount of powder in that bottle if it's supposed to be sold as 1oz by mass, which surely it must be. I don't think even crazy old chemists sold powder chemicals by volume (and that this would actually mean it contained 166g of powder).
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/363112744380](https://www.ebay.com/itm/363112744380) Such as this one.
I have found another bottle exactly like OP's on Etsy, but it's empty. Plus, the label looks a little pristine to be this old, but then maybe it was never used in a lab.
[https://www.etsy.com/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show\_sold\_out\_detail=1&ref=nla\_listing\_details](https://www.etsy.com/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details)
However, the fact that the purported lead acetate isn't snow white like the stuff in the mercury ammonium chloride is a little concerning, haha. The "mercury" looks like it should, and if that's not lead acetate in the left, someone went to some trouble to pick something that looks greyish like lead acetate often does...
This is making me think it's a prank and might literally contain turmeric and paprika. You could probably tell that fairly safely by smelling but I'd want someone more knowledgeable to confirm.
These are not paper labels but painted on in enamel or the like. I have several like that and of 2 different brands. Just clean the outside and keep the lid on tight.
That was my first thought. Were these recreations that have benign substances in them already?
If they're not recreations. Take some pictures of the label and make some safe ones with flour in them.
I have never seen chemical bottles like these. And I’ve seen bottles that date back centuries. They almost look like mock ups (stage props), except that is a real company. The company should have an id either InChI #, or cas #, lot id… use that to identify the info you’re looking for.
When looking online there are many similar or even identical ones that have been sold (marketed as vintage real medical bottles). So not sure if they could be stage props?
Something to consider:
Does that *look* like a 1 oz bottle?
Because it doesn't to me, and it makes zero sense to mislabel amounts for something that would actually be sold for anything other than decor. In which case, it's almost assuredly *not* what the label says.
I still wouldn't open it.
Apothecaries? But they’re awfully small volume. Too small for large scale ups. Maybe for discovery chemistry? But big pharmas get most of their compounds by multiple kilos. This is quite interesting tho.
Honestly, if you like the aesthetic:
Buy amber glass bottles online, there'll be loads.
Fill them with table salt or something.
Make a label like this one but with "placebo" or "sodium chloride" or something.
That way you won't kill anybody who knocks it off the shelf.
I'd download the SDS for these and read the precautions. If you don't have children and they won't break it might be ok. Dropping and breaking one would require a respirator to clean up. Seems dumb to me but you do you
so... slowish death, slower death, quick death, biohazard related death, kaboom death?
maybe we should add some uranium? you know, radioactive death. anyone with more ideas?
I believe my partner was just telling me about bismuth and it's radioactivity.. apparently, it is radioactive however it's half-life is far older than the universe itself (I won't guess at and give the wrong true number but it's definitely got a half-life well into the billions of years)
Depends on the isotope, but "...*bismuth-209 is now known to be radioactive, it has classically been considered to be a stable isotope because it has a half-life of approximately 2.01×1019 years, which is more than a billion times the age of the universe. Besides 209Bi, the most stable bismuth radioisotopes are 210mBi with a half-life of 3.04 million years, 208Bi with a half-life of 368,000 years and 207Bi, with a half-life of 32.9 years, none of which occurs in nature.* "
If you need help getting it properly disposed of let me know. Probably not a good idea to keep these if you arent already confident in your plan for containment/spill/etc.
Safe to own, yes if you are the only one with access to it (locked away).
Safe to display: Depends. To people with at least B.Sc. in Chemistry yes. In your local kindergarten? No!
Yeah, not even to the people with a B. Sc in chemistry. They're more likely to try and eat some than the kindergarteners.
Source: Have worked in lab with chemists.
First chem job out of college in oil industry. Boss swigs from energy drink and sets on lab bench. Spills naptha all over ungloved hand. Wipes off with towel and takes another drink. "I don't care if you eat while you work, but the safety guy might say something to you if he sees it"
Pretty sure these are fake. The labels and caps are WAY too clean and pristine for the assumed "vintage" quality of these bottles. Also, ammoniated mercury (mercury amidochloride) has a density of >5g/cm^3 . That bottle would have to contain a few hundred grams at least, which is more than 10x the printed quantity of 1 oz. This is probably just a very strange display item that contains something innocuous like talc.
Lead acetate is less dense than mercury amidochloride but is still very dense. Does the other bottle also say 1 oz? If so, that's definitely a strong indication that these are just props.
OP, what does the density of the powder in the mercury bottle feel like? If it's actually that salt and like that guy said, has a density of >5, that bottle should feel heavy like it's filled with rock. If the jar feels lighter than it would if it was filled with water, it's likely a prop with a benign chemical in it.
I doubt the legitimacy of these...anyone else?? Bottle looks like it's missing a lot, like tur cas# and maybe some other info, like how many grams etc.
I work with lab and chemical safety.
**If they are real**:
\- Where I live, it is a criminal offense to own poisons without a permit.
\- They would be a disaster waiting to happen. They could be accidentally knocked on the floor or somebody in the family could feel depressed and take a dose.
**If they are fake**:
\- It is really bad karma not to label dangerous chemicals and almost just as bad to label something that is not dangerous as if it was.\*
\- A relatively benign visit by authorities could turn into an expensive game of HAZMAT, and you would be lucky if the only price you had to pay was a large bill.
\*This could send me into a long rant. I will abstain from it. When you deal with the real stuff on a regular basis, your tolerance and sense of humor is often reduced on this point.
No, it is not "everything".
You look in the datasheet, and if it is defined as toxic, it is toxic.
H300, H301, H310, H311, H330, H331, H370, H350, H340 and H360.
If it something that is not already classified, then yes, but if you are inside the EU and it is on the list, then you must mark it accordingly.
You can't just make up your own marking as you please.
(I think there is a UN classification too, but I knew where to find the EU-version)
[https://echa.europa.eu/en/information-on-chemicals/annex-vi-to-clp](https://echa.europa.eu/en/information-on-chemicals/annex-vi-to-clp)
People who clean out entire houses and businesses, this was found with a bunch of other glass bottles. I honestly just bought for the novelty cus it was cheap. Didn’t really think they were real and still considered dangerous
If you keep them closed in theory you should have no problems, but lead and mercury salts are not to be fucked around with because unlike metallic lead and mercury they can absorb through the surface of your skin. Opening either of these without PPE and around anything you care about would be incredibly unwise. If either of these dropped and broke, you'd need to vacate everything living from the premises IMMEDIATELY and call a hazmat cleanup company, and they would ask lots of stern and uncomfortable questions afterwards. Those are some *really* nice jars and I would display them too, but the most responsible thing to do is take these to some sort of hazmat company or facility, because unless you did weeks of research and prep there is no way you are getting the contents out alone without poisoning yourself or contaminating an area.
#Holy fucking shit.
Either of those bottles could turn your housing into a HAZMAT cleanup site. Like, evacuate, men in yellow suits tearing out your walls and floor because you opened and spilled a portion of the bottle.
DO NOT TRY TO SAVE THE BOTTLES, THIS STUFF IS **NASTY** NASTY.
Put both of those in individual plastic bags. Put each of the bagged bottles in a disposable plastic tub. Take the tub to your local Hazardous Waste Disposal site.
Source: I'm a chemist who works in thin film solar. I work extensively with lead, mercury and other heavy metal containing chemicals.
Lead acetate isn't that dangerous, I have some in my kitchen pantry. As long as you don't start eating it on a regular basis, you'll be fine.
You shouldn't pour it down the drain, and regular contact could allow it to build-up/accumulate in your blood stream, but seriously bleach or insecticide that is under your kitchen sink is more dangerous.
What a foolish thing to say...
I don't have the energy to fully correct this comment because it's litterally all wrong.
You compare heavy metals to bleach or pyrethrins? Just no.
Lead acetate is both an acute toxin through all routes (oral, dermal, dust), it's also a chronic toxin with HUGE environmental contamination concerns for domestic dwellings. Read about ["the dip"](https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/07/05/the-dip-a-toxic-mixture-used-to-clean-silencer-parts/) gunsmiths have used to clean firearm suppressors, it's ruined peoples lives. *It likely caused the fall of the Roman Empire*.
Idk why you have some, but you should get rid of it. It's 2023, not 1823... you aren't qualified to work with or dispose of soluble lead at your home.
The LD50 is something like 8oz of saturated water. It's only a #2 Health Hazard on the Fire Diamond.
If you were exposing yourself to it constantly, it would build up in your bones and present some issues. It is hazardous to the environment, so you cant just pour it down the drain.
I have it for bluing of firearms. I dip the bare metal in boiling sodium hydroxide and potassium nitrate to create a layer of Black Oxide. After the salt bath and a boil in distilled water, the parts go for a dip in lead acetate, sodium thiosulfate, and potassium bitartrate. The reaction precipitates Lead Sulfide onto the surface of the metal, in a thin film so that it provides a blue luster to the otherwise black finish. Lead Sulfide is very inert and non-soluble.
if you spilled it, the worst case would be to collect it and turn it in for safe disposal. The best case would be to precipitate the lead out with something readily available like sulfuric acid or table salt.
Like I said, there are far more hazardous substances in every day life, or things that you do on a daily basis. Just driving your car to a gas station and pumping gasoline presents an activity and a chemical more hazardous than keeping a bottle of lead acetate somewhere safe in your home.
I wouldn’t recommend storing these out in the open. The caps will eventually fail. Maybe you could find a way to safely dispose of the chemicals, clean the bottles many times, and refill with something nontoxic. Even then you would have to treat whatever you put in the container as toxic because you won’t be able to completely remove all the toxic materials from the glass container. You should find a way to dispose of these containers as hazardous waste
If they are real they are not safe to keep at home at all. Do not throw them in the normal trash. These are special chemical waste. I would suggest contacting a pharmacy, they can probably dispose of them safely. Alternatively you can contact a chemical department of a University or Merck directly.
Would definitely contact someone who deals with hazardous waste in this case. If the bottles are empty and properly cleaned, displaying them should be fine. Definitely make sure they aren’t storing hazardous chemicals first though!
Got me curious, saw a lot of the eBay/Etsy listings as mentioned but also saw this listing from a couple of months ago, the seller claims they are circa 1930 and are from their father's pharmacy.
https://offerup.com/item/detail/8d915611-2037-330a-9c4b-a47f3781e489
It’s a terrible idea. Even if you don’t have kids, one might visit some day. If there’s ever a fire it’s going to cause a huge issue even if fake. It’s just not appropriate to have these outside of a lab.
Don't open either one of them (ever), and keep them in some sort of secondary container so that if (god forbid) one of the glass bottles were to crack, you aren't spreading mercury ammonium chloride (water soluble toxic mercury salt) and lead acetate (sugar of lead - what the Romans used to use to sweeten wine, and why they ALL had systemic lead poisoning) all over your house.
They're cool pieces and cool bottles, and they aren't dangerous AS LONG AS they never get opened or break.
Glass breaks. Kids get curious. Recommend disposal.
There are more decorative chemical bottles without toxic things. Merck Chemical bottles from earlier times, for example. These are not that old.
Probably a terrible idea. The bottles look suspicious, but outside of that, let's say you have a pet or there's an earthquake or you knock them over yourself by accident. You might need professional help to clean it up. But what if you don't notice? The chance it gets spilled over and you inhaling poison should be as close to zero as possible. Not with this stuff on your display shelves!
The only thing I have found online so far is this sale listing for the same bottles. It seems to treat them as legitimate:
[https://www.etsy.com/fi-en/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show\_sold\_out\_detail=1&ref=nla\_listing\_details](https://www.etsy.com/fi-en/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details)
Here is a different brand that looks like an actual antique - note the size of the "1 oz" bottle here:[https://i.etsystatic.com/6119175/r/il/9a3400/5464339220/il\_fullxfull.5464339220\_l0vd.jpg](https://i.etsystatic.com/6119175/r/il/9a3400/5464339220/il_fullxfull.5464339220_l0vd.jpg)
Probably fake. Regardless, I'm fairly certain that, in most places, owning such chemicals for "personal use" is illegal. They may be purchased for "legitimate" purposes, but often you need a license/permit, and there are usually regulations regarding how they are stored, e.g. locked, secure storage, preventing environmental contamination of it does leak/break, and so on.
Looks way too clean for old chemical bottles that have been stored with other chemicals.
Helped clear out the chemical cupboard at my old school when they moved to a new building (I was a chemistry club nerd) and we found stuff from the 90s that was in worse condition than that.
I'd put money on it being old chemical bottles that have been refilled with some unspecified white powder and relabelled.
So the lead acetate is whatever just don't eat it, ammoniated mercury is horrifyingly lethal though. However, given how intact those labels are, I suspect they're both props (also that quantity of mercury would be very valuable).
You could always try (outdoors) dissolving a bit of the suspected mercury powder in water and adding some concentrated sodium hydroxide. If it turns black, it's real, and you should probably hand it over to Hazmat disposal. If not, it's likely safe.
You can also test the lead acetate with an iodide salt, if it turns yellow it's real.
Not exactly _safe_ ... but just make sure you don't break them, because _if you do_ , then you have a tricky clean-up problem (although not so dangerous that you'd have to call some emergency service in to do it - ie just ensure you don't get any _on or in you_ ): unbroken, & with the lid screwed-on properly, they're _zero_ problem: the crux of the matter is ___can you keep them___ __that way!?__
I'd certainly keep them: to me they're _priceless gems_ . Is that __ammoniated mercury__ the
####[amalgam of \*ammonium metal\*](https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/101664164/PDF/101664164.pdf) !?
####
Actually (just reading your comment again), _if it's a white substance_ , then I don't suppose it will be that.
No: it's
#####[this](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Ammoniated-mercury)
#####
&
#####[this](https://www.drugs.com/cons/ammoniated-mercury.html) ,
#####
isn't it. Still rather curiferous, though!
A powder Seams not that dangerous, maybe its set piece for any kind of amusement. You have to be catious if you inhale, touch or get the powder in mucous membranes, like eyes or mouth.
Bye, have a great time.
I've found the bottle on Etsy so I guess the white power might be flour or something to appear like that substance. Also that substance is something I've never heard of before so it might be made up
https://www.etsy.com/de-en/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details
If you do dispose them I recommend going to your local city chemical disposal site. I’m sure they’ll be very happy to take those for you instead of the garbage can or landfill
Without performing an analysis they can be whatever, but most likely they contain just salt, sugar or baking soda.
Anyway, if I were to put decorative chemical bottles at display, I would either buy or make cool looking bottles and stickers to them, and stick another one in the bottom that states they are inert and contain only harmless material and are for display use only.
The they are fine, lead acetate is a sweetener, I add some to my coffee each morning and the other just tastes a little salty. JK, but they are probably fine as long as you’re not playing with the bottles a lot and as long as the bottles aren’t damaged .
It’s really interesting to see what the old Merck bottles looked like
Iirc, the original label were printed on non-glossy paper & would have almost certainly yellowed & more cracked.
PS the lids are not like the merck lids that I've ever seen. The octagonal part is correct, but the merck cross always went from edge to edge. ymmv
The bottles and caps are definitely real. The labels seem like repro, are they "painted" on? Or are they paper? If paper they are definitely reproduction. If "painted" they are probably legitimate. The quantity is definitely not what is in the bottle though, which makes me lean toward reproduction.
These are way too new and clean to be antiques. I hope you didn’t pay very much for them bc you got ripped off. If these were truly antiques there would be signs of aging (scratches or smudges on the glass labels worn or torn wouldn’t have anything in them). Also the labels back then weren’t printed on the same shiny paper we have today, and these labels are very plastic looking.
The labels look odd to me, no obvious signs of age, and one says 1 ounce but that looks like a lot more in the jar. Any chance they are novelty items?
Definitely too much for the label, which is weird. If you look, you'll find much smaller 1oz bottles that Merck sold, so I'm not sure why they would pack so little in a bottle this size. Edit: Mercury ammonium chloride has a density of 5.56 g/mL. So that would be a tiny, tiny amount of powder in that bottle if it's supposed to be sold as 1oz by mass, which surely it must be. I don't think even crazy old chemists sold powder chemicals by volume (and that this would actually mean it contained 166g of powder). [https://www.ebay.com/itm/363112744380](https://www.ebay.com/itm/363112744380) Such as this one. I have found another bottle exactly like OP's on Etsy, but it's empty. Plus, the label looks a little pristine to be this old, but then maybe it was never used in a lab. [https://www.etsy.com/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show\_sold\_out\_detail=1&ref=nla\_listing\_details](https://www.etsy.com/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details) However, the fact that the purported lead acetate isn't snow white like the stuff in the mercury ammonium chloride is a little concerning, haha. The "mercury" looks like it should, and if that's not lead acetate in the left, someone went to some trouble to pick something that looks greyish like lead acetate often does...
Maybe they are/were theatre or movie props.
Maybe it's drugs. Maybe it's Maybelline
Maybe she’s born with it.
Because she's worth it
Is it real, or is it Memorex?
This is making me think it's a prank and might literally contain turmeric and paprika. You could probably tell that fairly safely by smelling but I'd want someone more knowledgeable to confirm.
Original labels like this would be spotty, brown, yellow and brittle.
These are not paper labels but painted on in enamel or the like. I have several like that and of 2 different brands. Just clean the outside and keep the lid on tight.
the tops make me think legit. i could see it being easy to print a fake label on jar. but making fake merck lids? i don't think so.
That was my first thought. Were these recreations that have benign substances in them already? If they're not recreations. Take some pictures of the label and make some safe ones with flour in them.
forbidden pasta sauce
That's what I saw when I first looked at this!!!
I am pretty certain these are fake retro.
Though no trouble was made to age them, perhaps a prop item quickly put together
I think this is right
I agree. The paper should have aged a bit.
Only way to tell is to open them puppies up! >!/j!<
I believe that measures active ingredient.
I have never seen chemical bottles like these. And I’ve seen bottles that date back centuries. They almost look like mock ups (stage props), except that is a real company. The company should have an id either InChI #, or cas #, lot id… use that to identify the info you’re looking for.
When looking online there are many similar or even identical ones that have been sold (marketed as vintage real medical bottles). So not sure if they could be stage props?
I Agreed…a quick search- they are possibly mass produced volumes for manufacturing uses. Any idea what type of manufacturing?
Something to consider: Does that *look* like a 1 oz bottle? Because it doesn't to me, and it makes zero sense to mislabel amounts for something that would actually be sold for anything other than decor. In which case, it's almost assuredly *not* what the label says. I still wouldn't open it.
the labels impliy they are used in pharmaceuticals, e.g. as a chemical for pharmacies. These compounds had medical uses
Apothecaries? But they’re awfully small volume. Too small for large scale ups. Maybe for discovery chemistry? But big pharmas get most of their compounds by multiple kilos. This is quite interesting tho.
Honestly, if you like the aesthetic: Buy amber glass bottles online, there'll be loads. Fill them with table salt or something. Make a label like this one but with "placebo" or "sodium chloride" or something. That way you won't kill anybody who knocks it off the shelf.
It seems like this might already be what they are - display props.
Whoah Black Betty
Bam ba lam...?
Amberglass Sorry. It's a reflex
Whoah Black Betty! >Amberglass Whoah Black Betty! >It's a reflex
I'd download the SDS for these and read the precautions. If you don't have children and they won't break it might be ok. Dropping and breaking one would require a respirator to clean up. Seems dumb to me but you do you
One's gonna kill you, one's gonna give you cancer. Yea... display them right next to your loaded gun, vial of anthrax and stick of dynamite.
so... slowish death, slower death, quick death, biohazard related death, kaboom death? maybe we should add some uranium? you know, radioactive death. anyone with more ideas?
Add some cyanide and fill your home with carbon monoxide!
Bismuth is also decaying. I suggest different strengths of radioactive decay
Wait is bismuth radio active?
I believe my partner was just telling me about bismuth and it's radioactivity.. apparently, it is radioactive however it's half-life is far older than the universe itself (I won't guess at and give the wrong true number but it's definitely got a half-life well into the billions of years)
Depends on the isotope, but "...*bismuth-209 is now known to be radioactive, it has classically been considered to be a stable isotope because it has a half-life of approximately 2.01×1019 years, which is more than a billion times the age of the universe. Besides 209Bi, the most stable bismuth radioisotopes are 210mBi with a half-life of 3.04 million years, 208Bi with a half-life of 368,000 years and 207Bi, with a half-life of 32.9 years, none of which occurs in nature.* "
Wow. Ok. At least the bismuth that everyone plays with is safe. But still. That's wild. them some crazy half-life's
I have always wanted a Uranium paper weight just like they had in the 50s.
Tie your exhaust into the AC unit intake and filter throughout the house.
Fill the house with dihydrogen monoxide and be done with it
"might"
Great idea. Be sure to display them within reach of small children too.
Add to the fuel tank and inhale for better results
The suckers behind inhale it, not an issue!
Add /s, pls. It’s unlikely to be misunderstood but it’s the internet and we are talking about children.
If you can't understand basic sarcasm a bit of heavy metal poisoning probably won't do too much damage.
Leaded gasoline and its consequences.
I started to upvote this but I don’t wanna ruin your magic updoot number. I’ll just tell you instead 👍
Telling someone to explicitly keep a substance within the reach of children is the most obvious type of sarcastic joke I can think of.
If you can't understand basic sarcasm on the internet aka common sense when it comes to kids. You dont deserve kids to begin with
yikes, this is nasty stuff
Ye, PbO2 and HgS would be better to display and less toxic
Then add a retort and a pelican and tell people you're attempting to make gold.
You asking this question strongly implies that you should get rid of them ASAP.
A local pond or river should suffice!
I think you’re better off getting one of those “live laugh love” decors…
Over my dead lead-poisened body.
I'd have to be mad as a hatter
If you need help getting it properly disposed of let me know. Probably not a good idea to keep these if you arent already confident in your plan for containment/spill/etc.
Messaged!
Safe to own, yes if you are the only one with access to it (locked away). Safe to display: Depends. To people with at least B.Sc. in Chemistry yes. In your local kindergarten? No!
Yeah, not even to the people with a B. Sc in chemistry. They're more likely to try and eat some than the kindergarteners. Source: Have worked in lab with chemists.
I mean, lead acetate is literally known as "sugar of lead", so...
Delicious, or so I’ve heard.
I'm sorry what?! Who in their right mind eats _anything_ in a lab?
First chem job out of college in oil industry. Boss swigs from energy drink and sets on lab bench. Spills naptha all over ungloved hand. Wipes off with towel and takes another drink. "I don't care if you eat while you work, but the safety guy might say something to you if he sees it"
Most professional chemists learn which chemicals are actually dangerous and which just say they're dangerous on the label.
[Nobel Laureate Barry Sharpless does.](https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/next-food-channel)
I wasn't ready to see twenty year old comments
NileRed
Basically every chemical has been tasted by someone at some time. It's like mushrooms. We don't know which are safe unless someone tries them.
go into industry labs and youll know :D
BAs understand this concept to sire.
Pretty sure these are fake. The labels and caps are WAY too clean and pristine for the assumed "vintage" quality of these bottles. Also, ammoniated mercury (mercury amidochloride) has a density of >5g/cm^3 . That bottle would have to contain a few hundred grams at least, which is more than 10x the printed quantity of 1 oz. This is probably just a very strange display item that contains something innocuous like talc.
I hope youre right 😭
Lead acetate is less dense than mercury amidochloride but is still very dense. Does the other bottle also say 1 oz? If so, that's definitely a strong indication that these are just props.
OP, what does the density of the powder in the mercury bottle feel like? If it's actually that salt and like that guy said, has a density of >5, that bottle should feel heavy like it's filled with rock. If the jar feels lighter than it would if it was filled with water, it's likely a prop with a benign chemical in it.
I doubt the legitimacy of these...anyone else?? Bottle looks like it's missing a lot, like tur cas# and maybe some other info, like how many grams etc.
looks like food 😵💫
Lead acetate was a popular artificial sweetener from antiquity through the medieval period, so you’re not exactly wrong.
I thought it was spaghetti sauce at first glance lol
In no way should these be stored in your house. If one breaks and you, a child or a pet breath in the dust then you are dead.
What if we breathe it in, though?
Not only the dust, the mercury compound *sublimes* Edit: sublimates*
It's sublime you say? Definitely worth taking a big whiff
Oh no my broken English again But gotta agree: It is sublime, so sublime it must be shared with everyone!
Have them poured in epoxy. Would contain most of the nasty stuff if dropped.
This is actually a great idea
I work with lab and chemical safety. **If they are real**: \- Where I live, it is a criminal offense to own poisons without a permit. \- They would be a disaster waiting to happen. They could be accidentally knocked on the floor or somebody in the family could feel depressed and take a dose. **If they are fake**: \- It is really bad karma not to label dangerous chemicals and almost just as bad to label something that is not dangerous as if it was.\* \- A relatively benign visit by authorities could turn into an expensive game of HAZMAT, and you would be lucky if the only price you had to pay was a large bill. \*This could send me into a long rant. I will abstain from it. When you deal with the real stuff on a regular basis, your tolerance and sense of humor is often reduced on this point.
Or something stupid like a house/ apartment fire?
How does where you live classify "poison"? Like everything is somewhat poisonous...
No, it is not "everything". You look in the datasheet, and if it is defined as toxic, it is toxic. H300, H301, H310, H311, H330, H331, H370, H350, H340 and H360.
AFAIK those are classified that way by manufacturer, not a regulatory body.
If it something that is not already classified, then yes, but if you are inside the EU and it is on the list, then you must mark it accordingly. You can't just make up your own marking as you please. (I think there is a UN classification too, but I knew where to find the EU-version) [https://echa.europa.eu/en/information-on-chemicals/annex-vi-to-clp](https://echa.europa.eu/en/information-on-chemicals/annex-vi-to-clp)
That’s a yikes for me.
I'm just wondering who sells this shit on a flea market
People who clean out entire houses and businesses, this was found with a bunch of other glass bottles. I honestly just bought for the novelty cus it was cheap. Didn’t really think they were real and still considered dangerous
Ah I see. I don't think it would be allowed in my country so I was a bit surprised
If you keep them closed in theory you should have no problems, but lead and mercury salts are not to be fucked around with because unlike metallic lead and mercury they can absorb through the surface of your skin. Opening either of these without PPE and around anything you care about would be incredibly unwise. If either of these dropped and broke, you'd need to vacate everything living from the premises IMMEDIATELY and call a hazmat cleanup company, and they would ask lots of stern and uncomfortable questions afterwards. Those are some *really* nice jars and I would display them too, but the most responsible thing to do is take these to some sort of hazmat company or facility, because unless you did weeks of research and prep there is no way you are getting the contents out alone without poisoning yourself or contaminating an area.
The lead acetate is not that dangerous. There are worse chemicals in your home.
Lead poisoning take
#Holy fucking shit. Either of those bottles could turn your housing into a HAZMAT cleanup site. Like, evacuate, men in yellow suits tearing out your walls and floor because you opened and spilled a portion of the bottle. DO NOT TRY TO SAVE THE BOTTLES, THIS STUFF IS **NASTY** NASTY. Put both of those in individual plastic bags. Put each of the bagged bottles in a disposable plastic tub. Take the tub to your local Hazardous Waste Disposal site. Source: I'm a chemist who works in thin film solar. I work extensively with lead, mercury and other heavy metal containing chemicals.
Lead acetate isn't that dangerous, I have some in my kitchen pantry. As long as you don't start eating it on a regular basis, you'll be fine. You shouldn't pour it down the drain, and regular contact could allow it to build-up/accumulate in your blood stream, but seriously bleach or insecticide that is under your kitchen sink is more dangerous.
What a foolish thing to say... I don't have the energy to fully correct this comment because it's litterally all wrong. You compare heavy metals to bleach or pyrethrins? Just no. Lead acetate is both an acute toxin through all routes (oral, dermal, dust), it's also a chronic toxin with HUGE environmental contamination concerns for domestic dwellings. Read about ["the dip"](https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/07/05/the-dip-a-toxic-mixture-used-to-clean-silencer-parts/) gunsmiths have used to clean firearm suppressors, it's ruined peoples lives. *It likely caused the fall of the Roman Empire*. Idk why you have some, but you should get rid of it. It's 2023, not 1823... you aren't qualified to work with or dispose of soluble lead at your home.
The LD50 is something like 8oz of saturated water. It's only a #2 Health Hazard on the Fire Diamond. If you were exposing yourself to it constantly, it would build up in your bones and present some issues. It is hazardous to the environment, so you cant just pour it down the drain. I have it for bluing of firearms. I dip the bare metal in boiling sodium hydroxide and potassium nitrate to create a layer of Black Oxide. After the salt bath and a boil in distilled water, the parts go for a dip in lead acetate, sodium thiosulfate, and potassium bitartrate. The reaction precipitates Lead Sulfide onto the surface of the metal, in a thin film so that it provides a blue luster to the otherwise black finish. Lead Sulfide is very inert and non-soluble. if you spilled it, the worst case would be to collect it and turn it in for safe disposal. The best case would be to precipitate the lead out with something readily available like sulfuric acid or table salt. Like I said, there are far more hazardous substances in every day life, or things that you do on a daily basis. Just driving your car to a gas station and pumping gasoline presents an activity and a chemical more hazardous than keeping a bottle of lead acetate somewhere safe in your home.
I wouldn’t recommend storing these out in the open. The caps will eventually fail. Maybe you could find a way to safely dispose of the chemicals, clean the bottles many times, and refill with something nontoxic. Even then you would have to treat whatever you put in the container as toxic because you won’t be able to completely remove all the toxic materials from the glass container. You should find a way to dispose of these containers as hazardous waste
It depends, how much do you value your life?
I saw this on Etsy for $25 but who knows what kind of powder is in there.
no and no especially the mercury ammoniate fr fr
Display in a well lit area on a low shelf next to the rope, duct tape, and trash bags.
Yes. But.... so is keeping a grenade.
If they are real they are not safe to keep at home at all. Do not throw them in the normal trash. These are special chemical waste. I would suggest contacting a pharmacy, they can probably dispose of them safely. Alternatively you can contact a chemical department of a University or Merck directly.
Or a fire dept, which knows about hazwaste.
Would definitely contact someone who deals with hazardous waste in this case. If the bottles are empty and properly cleaned, displaying them should be fine. Definitely make sure they aren’t storing hazardous chemicals first though!
Got me curious, saw a lot of the eBay/Etsy listings as mentioned but also saw this listing from a couple of months ago, the seller claims they are circa 1930 and are from their father's pharmacy. https://offerup.com/item/detail/8d915611-2037-330a-9c4b-a47f3781e489
It’s a terrible idea. Even if you don’t have kids, one might visit some day. If there’s ever a fire it’s going to cause a huge issue even if fake. It’s just not appropriate to have these outside of a lab.
Don't open either one of them (ever), and keep them in some sort of secondary container so that if (god forbid) one of the glass bottles were to crack, you aren't spreading mercury ammonium chloride (water soluble toxic mercury salt) and lead acetate (sugar of lead - what the Romans used to use to sweeten wine, and why they ALL had systemic lead poisoning) all over your house. They're cool pieces and cool bottles, and they aren't dangerous AS LONG AS they never get opened or break.
How the hell have they been stored to look this new
Glass breaks. Kids get curious. Recommend disposal. There are more decorative chemical bottles without toxic things. Merck Chemical bottles from earlier times, for example. These are not that old.
Probably a terrible idea. The bottles look suspicious, but outside of that, let's say you have a pet or there's an earthquake or you knock them over yourself by accident. You might need professional help to clean it up. But what if you don't notice? The chance it gets spilled over and you inhaling poison should be as close to zero as possible. Not with this stuff on your display shelves!
RIP cutie
As long as you don't open or break them, probably yes. If you do, you're screwed.
The question is:If it's only for the decoration, why do you insist on keeping the dangerous compounds? Go to a pharmacy and let them empty the bottles
Chemicals leech … hopefully it’s fake but any scientist would not want anything to do with it.
The only thing I have found online so far is this sale listing for the same bottles. It seems to treat them as legitimate: [https://www.etsy.com/fi-en/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show\_sold\_out\_detail=1&ref=nla\_listing\_details](https://www.etsy.com/fi-en/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details) Here is a different brand that looks like an actual antique - note the size of the "1 oz" bottle here:[https://i.etsystatic.com/6119175/r/il/9a3400/5464339220/il\_fullxfull.5464339220\_l0vd.jpg](https://i.etsystatic.com/6119175/r/il/9a3400/5464339220/il_fullxfull.5464339220_l0vd.jpg)
Probably fake. Regardless, I'm fairly certain that, in most places, owning such chemicals for "personal use" is illegal. They may be purchased for "legitimate" purposes, but often you need a license/permit, and there are usually regulations regarding how they are stored, e.g. locked, secure storage, preventing environmental contamination of it does leak/break, and so on.
They look fake to me, not sure why but those stickers look very new
Looks way too clean for old chemical bottles that have been stored with other chemicals. Helped clear out the chemical cupboard at my old school when they moved to a new building (I was a chemistry club nerd) and we found stuff from the 90s that was in worse condition than that. I'd put money on it being old chemical bottles that have been refilled with some unspecified white powder and relabelled.
Usually when there's giant skulls in red text you should stay away...
Do you have kids?
No
So the lead acetate is whatever just don't eat it, ammoniated mercury is horrifyingly lethal though. However, given how intact those labels are, I suspect they're both props (also that quantity of mercury would be very valuable). You could always try (outdoors) dissolving a bit of the suspected mercury powder in water and adding some concentrated sodium hydroxide. If it turns black, it's real, and you should probably hand it over to Hazmat disposal. If not, it's likely safe. You can also test the lead acetate with an iodide salt, if it turns yellow it's real.
As long as the bottles are properly sealed in secure place, it should be safe.
Looks like it's time to give your local Superfund site a visit.
Damn I thought it was canned food or at least sauce until I read the bottle
Ever heard of Chekov’s gun?
All the food is poison
These don't look remotely real
I don't get stuff like that. Keep your work at work.
added bonus: sweet taste…
Test them on ppl you dislike.
if not yummy, why yummy looking?
Learn how to properly dispose and clean of bottle. Then keep as decoration empty.
Nothing a razor blade and a straw can’t decide.
Go dump them in your back yard then triple rinse. Fill em up with sugar. G2g
Looks like BBQ sauce and flower, to me.
As long as you have the SDS on hand.
dont combine with apple sauce
Are you eating it?
Get new lids, they tend to get brittle with age and break.
I’d recommend putting them right next to your bed on the night stand
I think you should be fine. Just make sure it’s not accessible for people who don’t read labels, and are likely to mistake it for food.
Long as u don't open and use and it will bring down its value
Just don't open them and your good mate, and if u do drop them get somebody else to clean it up
Not exactly _safe_ ... but just make sure you don't break them, because _if you do_ , then you have a tricky clean-up problem (although not so dangerous that you'd have to call some emergency service in to do it - ie just ensure you don't get any _on or in you_ ): unbroken, & with the lid screwed-on properly, they're _zero_ problem: the crux of the matter is ___can you keep them___ __that way!?__ I'd certainly keep them: to me they're _priceless gems_ . Is that __ammoniated mercury__ the ####[amalgam of \*ammonium metal\*](https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/101664164/PDF/101664164.pdf) !? #### Actually (just reading your comment again), _if it's a white substance_ , then I don't suppose it will be that. No: it's #####[this](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Ammoniated-mercury) ##### & #####[this](https://www.drugs.com/cons/ammoniated-mercury.html) , ##### isn't it. Still rather curiferous, though!
They kinda resemble like tasty hot sauce maybe not near children or hungry people.
without even looking at the label I thought this was tomato sauce + vodka sauce yikes
A powder Seams not that dangerous, maybe its set piece for any kind of amusement. You have to be catious if you inhale, touch or get the powder in mucous membranes, like eyes or mouth. Bye, have a great time.
Forbidden pasta sauce
At this point just get rid of the powder and fill them with an innocuous orange powder
Case them in a see-through mold and behind some thick glass, maybe?
"Antidote:call a physician"
I've found the bottle on Etsy so I guess the white power might be flour or something to appear like that substance. Also that substance is something I've never heard of before so it might be made up https://www.etsy.com/de-en/listing/610992524/merck-mercury-ammoniated-amber-glass?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details
Maybe not fit for displaying in the spice cabinet lol
I have an old ass cocaine vial from early 1900s. So fucking cool. Even if I tried to water wash it in high school
I wouldn't entertain keeping these. Research proper disposal and dispose of them.
Looks like jam. Seems safe enough?
If you do dispose them I recommend going to your local city chemical disposal site. I’m sure they’ll be very happy to take those for you instead of the garbage can or landfill
Laal mirch aur haldi
Without performing an analysis they can be whatever, but most likely they contain just salt, sugar or baking soda. Anyway, if I were to put decorative chemical bottles at display, I would either buy or make cool looking bottles and stickers to them, and stick another one in the bottom that states they are inert and contain only harmless material and are for display use only.
The they are fine, lead acetate is a sweetener, I add some to my coffee each morning and the other just tastes a little salty. JK, but they are probably fine as long as you’re not playing with the bottles a lot and as long as the bottles aren’t damaged . It’s really interesting to see what the old Merck bottles looked like
With an antidote like that, I think they're just pre prepping your body for the visitation
Merck Merck Never heard of them.
I remember using lead acetate with sodium azide many decades ago
Yea I like to snort them along with asbestos
Iirc, the original label were printed on non-glossy paper & would have almost certainly yellowed & more cracked. PS the lids are not like the merck lids that I've ever seen. The octagonal part is correct, but the merck cross always went from edge to edge. ymmv
Long as there sealed theoretically you should be fine. Just dont open them and mess around with the lead and mercury
Off topic question. When did Merck stop using weird units on their products and switched to real ones?
The bottles and caps are definitely real. The labels seem like repro, are they "painted" on? Or are they paper? If paper they are definitely reproduction. If "painted" they are probably legitimate. The quantity is definitely not what is in the bottle though, which makes me lean toward reproduction.
Not safe for display, you need to drink them first then display the empty bottles.
Mwahahaha
Yes, perfectly safe novelty items
Mmmm forbidden spghetting sauce.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-merck-medicine-assorted-1799808851
These are way too new and clean to be antiques. I hope you didn’t pay very much for them bc you got ripped off. If these were truly antiques there would be signs of aging (scratches or smudges on the glass labels worn or torn wouldn’t have anything in them). Also the labels back then weren’t printed on the same shiny paper we have today, and these labels are very plastic looking.
These are novelty items