A pair of New York money managers involved in their own Ponzi scheme used some of their profits to buy houses, horses, cars, and collectibles like rare books and $80,000 worth of Steiff teddy bears. We remember several other famous collector crooks who turned to crime because they needed more money to collect. There was a Bakelite jewelry man, a Gaudy Dutch man, and a Tiffany lamp collector. In each case, money from the sale of the collection was given to the victims as partial repayment.
A question from a reader: Does anyone know when the practice began of putting a warning on pottery similar to "For decorative purposes only. Not for food consumption?"
6 comments:
This is in response to the question about the warning "For decorative purposes only. Not for food consumption". Here is an excerpt from the USFDA website, dated 8/5/1988: ....."The permanent labeling should state: "Not for Food Use -- May Poison
Food. For Decorative Purposes Only." Sticker-type labels that could come
off from repeated use and washing should not be relied on.
Alternately, the ceramicware may be rendered useless for liquid foods by one or more holes in the product.
FDA outlined these requirements in letters sent June 24 to 78 companies and organizations that produce or promote decorative ceramicware products.
The letters were from L. Robert Lake, director of the Office of Compliance at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition."
The complete article can be found at http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00228.html
In response to the warning "For decorative purposes only. Not for food consumption", this Canadian gov't site goes a bit further in describing why these items must be marked or rendered useless for food or drink consumption: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/indust/ceramics-ceramiques/index-eng.php. But still looking for the origin of the warning, which seems to have come directly from manufacturers somewhere along the way. Hope this is helpful.
The statement refers to the unregulated use of ceramic and porcelain glazes made with a high content of lead and if not properly overglazed, may be toxic when used for food consumption. Many imported wares were not considered "food safe" after being tested in the USA. Your best solution if you should own such a piece is to use it for decorative purposes only, unless you can place a protective barrier between the food and lead glazed surface, such as an additional food safe plate or bowl.
I think the question was "When" the inscription was first used. My recollection says that I first saw it being used in the early 1970's because of a lead poisoning scare of Majorca (sorry about the spelling) tableware (and other brightly, heavily glazed pieces) sold at Pier 1 and many other places. People were making their frozen Florida orange juice in their beautiful new pitchers and making themselves quite ill.
Hope this helps.
Glass is best for making that morning OJ! ;)
The label generally can refer to the lead glaze used to glaze the pottery. This is not safe for use with food.
I have a beautiful soup turene that has a sticker on the bottom that says not for food, decorative purposes only...I really would like to be able to use it for food. The suggestion has been made to put something between the food and the potentially dangerous glaze. Is there a product that could be used as a "liner"? Something that could be painted on, or attached in some way? Please help. Thanks.
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