What color is Pewter?
What metal is Pewter?
Does Pewter tarnish?
What is hand casting?
What is spun Pewter?
At what temperature does Pewter melt?
Find out the answers to these and many more questions as we give you some practical and historical facts about pewter over the next few months.
What is Pewter?
April 2023
Pewter, a soft appealing metal that was prominent in colonial homes, is an alloy. An alloy is a combination of metals which blend to form a completely different metal. Pewter can be dated back to about 1500 B.C. It was extensively used in Roman times. There were writings of a “tin” vessel improving the taste of wine. Even to this day pewter is used for decanters and wine goblets. This early Roman pewter commonly contained up to 30 percent of lead. Lead causes pewter to tarnish and blacken with age giving it an image of “dark grey metal”. Additionally, we now know how dangerous lead is making it unusable for food and drink vessels. Another problem with the lead is that it gives a false value of the pewter, where lead is both cheaper and denser than tin.
Today, no reputable pewter manufacturer in the United States use lead in their food contact pewter. The alloy of pewter today consists of mostly tin with smaller amounts of other metals, commonly copper and antimony. It may be used as a liquid metal to cast desired pieces, or it may be rolled into thin sheets for fabrication. Pewter today has a pleasant and attractive white/silvery color and is both practical for use and decorative.
Next Month: How is Pewter Made? & Why choose Pewter?
Hampshire Pewter | 1.603.569.4944 | www.hampshirepewter.com
