After spending my usual HOURS obsessively photographing and listing a vintage Corning Ware percolator, I got an email from Etsy support letting me know that item had been removed.
Why?
The product had been recalled by the manufacturer!
This came as quite a surprise to me since I'd seen LOTS of these for sale (that's how I chose my price, came up with tag and description ideas, etc.) but now on Etsy they're cleared out (still available on eCrater, Ruby Lane, Tias, etc...though not Ebay).
Etsy had every right to remove the recalled product, but it SUCKS. I wish I'd known about the recall BEFORE I spent my time on the listing. I usually research things like crazy, but this was such a common item that my research was minimal.
So now I went looking for the recall itself and found Corning Glass Works recalled the percolators because the handle and metal band could unexpectedly separate from the glass base of the pot. See the full recall HERE and some more quality info on it HERE.
I'm also (more importantly) a bit freaked out I could have sold something that's not just dangerous but known to be dangerous, like here we are in VintageLand, completely oblivious and still playing with Asbestos-Putty or suggesting an 1890s bottle of turpentine as mouthwash.
What else has been recalled that I'm poised to sell to unwitting victims? Does milk glass cause terminal toe fungus? Do pre-1978 hats cause brain damage?
There's the government's big huge database of recalls at recalls.gov, which I will now use to check everything at the start of my research. But what about a nice simple list of common offenders that pop up frequently and you wouldn't expect? You know, like the Percolator Of Death.
CHECK ITEMS YOU OWN FOR US GOVERNMENT RECALL (click for link)
