On February 2, 1903, Robert Abbe contacted Eimer and Amend, New York’s premier chemical supply house, about obtaining some of the newly-discovered radium for therapeutic experimentation. The price quoted to Abbe—$13,250 per gram—translates to almost $350K in present-day dollars, but even a buyer with that much money could not have purchased “pure” radium. As the return notice pointed out, the price was theoretical. The Curies’ lab represented the only source of radium in the world, and they had not succeeded in producing “pure” radium. 

Abbe continued to make inquiries about radium, and his contact at Eimer and Amend eventually reported back with good news: although pure radium remained only a theoretical possibility, the Curies had produced small quantities of radium bromide, or radium salt, that they were willing to sell to researchers. Radium salts were sold based on radioactivity level, with numbers like “240 times” and “7000 times activity” referring to the amount of radiation given off by the salt relative to a similar sample of uranium. Salts with a higher percentage of radium in the preparation gave off more radiation.

On March 20, 1903, Eimer & Amend informed Dr. Abbe that they had obtained some of the most radioactive radium salt in the world--a number that they described as "300,000 times" more energetic than uranium. The chemical supply house had managed to purchase just 5/100 of a gram of the salt, with an asking price of $160, or approximately $4400, in present-day terms. The material came in a stoppered glass tube, and it glowed in the dark.