How to identify pewter

By softness, color and density.

There are chemical tests, but these are not commonly available.

Joe Gwinn

You could try a lead test kit.

jsw

I think pewter containing lead was phased out over 150 years ago for anything that came in contact with food and replaced with modern pewter, AKA Britannia metal, so a lead test kit probably wouldn't be of much use. The typical composition of modern pewter is about 92% tin, 2% copper, and about 6% antimony, The percentages vary depending on the application and whether cast or rolled and IIRC the Japanese require much lower antimony content as they consider it a problem, IIRC they require 2% or less.

I think that an easy test is to just try to melt one cup.

I thought, for a moment, that they may be cast aluminum, because, though they scratch, they are not nearly as soft as lead. But when I looked for "cast aluminum cup" on ebay, and saw nothing, I realized that they do not exist.

Could they be maxde of some other soft, grey metal, like zinc? I would say that they do not look like "potmetal".

i i

Could the marks be RWP? Anyway, cast bottom marks = modern piece.

I do not think that it could be RWP. It looks more like RTR, HTR, FTP, or something

I took some pictures:

The logo is visible on two large scale pictures.

thanks

i

Measure its density (SG)

Instructions at:

This won't identify the actual alloy, but it will certainly eliminate a few. Less then 7.5 (IIRC) means lead-free.

Aluminium = 2.7 Tin = 7.3 Pretty easy to differentiate. With minimal care you should be able to return two decimal places of SG - far more than required.

Got and electronic scale and a tub of water? (What are you waiting for?)

-- Jeff R.

This may or may not help:

Verification or excess capacity marks

Such marks are designed to confirm the capacity of vessels designed to hold liquids or verify that they have been checked. From around 1826 until the late 1870s each town had its own verification mark but vessels of a more recent vintage will contain the standard mark consisting of a crown, the monarch?s initials and a number code signifying location.

Those are cast pewter Abbey Bell Tankards. 1 pint size. Most of them sell for around 50-100 bucks each. More if they are heavy and polished.

Steve, thanks a lot. I am highly impressed with those mugs. Thanks you, I would never figure it out mysqlf. What does the logo mean?

i

By the way, the trademark on the bottom is clearly a stamp, not a casting feature. It was stamped after the casting was machined on the bottom.

i

The logo is usually the foundry/job shop that cast them. OR the mark of the shop/dinner theater that uses them, 99% of these are sold/used by reenactment people, the ones who like to wear armor and talk about finding a "faire maiden in distresse". I have seen the rough cast ones at theme places like Medieval Times as well.

The original ones used a pewter that contained lead, the lead would leach out into the mead or ale and caused many problems for the drinker.

Yep, I was at Medieval Times too. I was impressed wit the sparks that their swords made.

No doubt.

i