(b) Fresh beads of leaded samples were scraped with a razor blade to obtain as much of the
coating material as possible. Except for items P36 and P61, which only had 2–3 beads per item, duplicate samples were collected for each item. Duplicate samples showed some variability due to the inevitable contamination of surface coatings with underlying plastic material. Maximum variability was seen for item M105, with separate determinations of 20.5 and 25.6% total lead in the coatings. For item P40, quadruplicate measurements found 10.4, 10.8, 8.5 and 10.4%
total lead content. Scrapings were analyzed following digestion in 5 mL of 50% nitric acid for 24 h in new polycarbonate test tubes (14×125 mm).