Darrel Knob loch, age 10, of Peoria, I1

What is pewter?

Other metals have been used to replace pewter. There was a time when there, were pewter vessels and pitchers in every home. Even the vessels used in churches were often made of pewter. Nowadays you find objects of pewter in out of the way places such as antique shops and the forgotten furnishings of old houses. The metal is greyish blue with a soft, dull glow to it, It is less showy, less shiny and less colorful than brass or bronze. But it has a beauty of its own, none the less. The most admired pewter Vessels are simple , and streamlined. Some of these are many hundreds of years old.

Pewter is. an alloy, The major part of the metal is always tin. Sometimes lead is alloyed with the tin and sometimes copper or other metals. A common pewter was made from two parts of tin to one part of lead. This recipe is very old indeed, For pewter was used by the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians and the Chaldeans of Mesopotamia, The Romans got a lot of their tin for making pewter from the tine mine in Cornwall in the south of England.