Uranium 1955

It’s not often that an opportunity like this comes along but readers of the Saturday Evening Post in 1955 were offered the chance to prospect for Uranium deposits and, if successful, establish their own extractive industry and become fabulously rich with the sort of wealth that enables you to assemble a collection of Renaissance altar pieces and set up your own charitable foundation in support of right wing causes. Sadly most purchasers of the El-Tronics Geiger or Scintillation Counter would have to be content with the promised fun and excitement to be enjoyed in the pursuit of elusive deposits of heavy metal. For the recreational Uranium hunter the best buy would be the Three Range Portable device at $99.95, bringing a sense of purpose to family outings and country rambles. A pocket-size version at only $21.95 was available to those with only a casual interest. At the top end the serious prospector could stagger into the great outdoors, equipped with the Master Scintillation device - just a nickel shy of $1000. There’s no way of knowing just how many readers were persuaded to purchase these devices but some of them must have survived - long enough perhaps to become collectors’ items for Cold War connoisseurs and turn up for valuation on PBS Antiques Roadshow.