Pewter: You don't have to get the lead out

Mr. Bowen's holloware interests are not limited to sterling silver alone.  He has a pewterware collection as well.  Why bother having pewterware when you have sterling?  Simple.  Variety.  Pewterware is very cheap when purchased in the online arena.  That is especially true when you consider what new pewterware costs and even when you compare it to the original selling prices of 35 plus years ago.

Pewterware has been around a great while.  When we think of pewter, we tend to think of it in terms of the colonial era.  When an American thinks of pewter, the first word that pops into their head is lead.  Yes, colonial American pewtersmiths in the 1700s did mix lead into their pewter.  Great Britain did not allow the export of raw tin, the chief ingredient of pewter, to the colonies.  The only source of tin for the Americans was used pewterware.  This was melted down and reused.  Since tin is very soft, additional metal needs to be added to make it more durable.  As a result, unless you are eating off of antique American pewterware from the 1700s, you are not going to get lead poisoning.

Mr. Bowen's favorite manufacturer of pewterware is Reed & Barton.  Since it's inception as firm and until its demise in 1999, Reed & Barton manufactured a variety of flatware, and holloware in pewter..  The major problem with pewter is that when dropped, it might just dent or become out of wack unless it is thick.  Case in point are the P232 water goblets from Reed & Barton.  These originally sold for $22.50 each during the 1970s.  You can pick these up for less than half that price on Ebay.  Sometimes really cheap if someone dropped it and it became malformed.  One of Mr. Bowen's favorite tricks is to buy malformed pewter at 10 cents on the dollar and bend it back into shape.  So far, it has worked every time.  All you need is a pair of hands and a level flat table.

Pewter plates are kind of a fun alternative to china or everyday ware.  Be sure to remind your guests that stainless steel flatware is a much harder material than pewter and can be easily scratched.  Reed & Barton's P240 dinner plate, their P241 salad plate and P242 bread plates are simple in appearance and durable to use often.  Unlike their earlier American cousin, the alloy is 92% tin, and 8% antimony and bismuth.  This alloy is known as Britannia and is the standard for good quality pewter 250 years ago until today.  The online prices for these plates are once again cheaper than the original selling prices and far cheaper than buying new from bespoke pewtersmiths today.  To give you an idea of the current prices for pewter pieces, a simplier goblet to the P232 sells for about $75 each.

All the other usual holloware-candlesticks, butter dishes, salt & pepper shakers, bread trays etc. are available in pewter as well.  In my next post, we'll talk about cleaning pewter.