I know a little about radiation. Let me qualify my comments by giving a little of my background. I am the radiation safety officer for my company, we have several machines that contain gamma and neutron sources. I handled fairly strong (30-90 curie sources) when working in the oilfield years ago. I have had multiple hours of training on how to handle sources, reporting problems, and all the paperwork nightmares dealing with radioactive materials (and believe me, it is a pain in the ass). First off. has your geiger counter been calibrated within the last year? If not, get it done by the manufacturer. If so, then if you are getting a very low reading on the material, as you state, then the exposure rate will be so low that it will have no ill effects to your physical person. And just so you know, it takes more radiation to sterilize you than it does to kill you. Unless you get exposed to massive amounts of radiation (highly unlikely for the average joe), you have nothing to worry about. Sounds like what you have is an interesting, but not dangerous, piece of history. Just don't stick it up your ass for days on end and you'll be fine. - savage1