Pewter

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Pewter

Pewter is a malleable metal

Metal

In chemistry, a metal is a chemical element whose atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions , and form metallic bonds between other metal atoms and ionic bonds between nonmetal atoms....
alloy

Alloy

An alloy is a partial or complete solid solution of one or more chemical element in a metallic matrix. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may be homogeneous in distribution depending on thermal history....
, traditionally between 85 and 99 percent tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as an oxide, SnO2....
, with the remainder commonly consisting of copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
, antimony

Antimony

Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb and atomic number 51. A metalloid, antimony has four allotropy forms. The stable form of antimony is a blue-white metalloid....
and lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
.

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Uses

Pewter items are often found in churches. Use of pewter was common from the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
up until the various developments in glass

Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
-making during the 18th and 19th centuries. Pewter was the chief tableware until the making of porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and ....
. Contrary to urban legend, the use of lead-containing pewter tableware was unrelated to the mistrust of tomato

Tomato

The Tomato is an herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins Nicotiana, potatoes, aubergine , chilli peppers, and the poisonous Atropa belladonna....
es as a foodstuff in Northern Europe during the 16th century . Mass production

Mass production

Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines. The concepts of mass production are applied to various kinds of products, from fluids and particulates handled in bulk to discrete solid parts to assemblies of such parts ....
of glass products has seen glass universally replace pewter in day-to-day life. Pewter artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

In archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made or modified by a human archaeological culture, and often one later recovered by some archaeological endeavor....
continue to be produced, mainly as decorative or specialty items. Pewter was also used around East Asia

East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
. Although some items still exist, Ancient Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
pewter is very rare.

Unlidded mugs and lidded tankard

Tankard

A tankard is a form of drinkware consisting of a large, roughly cylinder , drinking cup with a single handle. Tankards are usually made of silver, pewter, or glass, but can be made of other materials, for example clay or leather....
s may be the most familiar pewter artifacts from the late 17th and 18th centuries, although the metal is also used for many other items including porringer

Porringer

A porringer is a small, usually pewter, dish from which European ethnic groupss and Thirteen Colonies ate their gruel or porridge, or other hot or cold dishes....
s, plates, dishes, basins, spoons, measures, flagons, communion cups, teapots, sugarbowls, beer stein

Beer stein

Beer stein or simply Stein is English for the Germans term "Steinkrug", a traditional beer mug similar to the lighter tankard....
s and cream jugs. In the early 19th century, changes of fashion witnessed a decline in the use of pewter flatware, but increased production of both cast and spun pewter tea sets, whale-oil lamps, candlesticks, etc. Later in the century, pewter alloys were often used as a base metal for silver-plated

Electroplating

Electroplating is a plating process that uses electrical direct current to redox cations of a desired material from a solution and coat a electrical conductivity object with a thin layer of the material, such as a metal....
objects.

Today, pewter is mainly used in decorative objects, namely collectible statuettes and figurines, replica coins, pendants, etc. Certain athletic contests, such as the United States figure skating championships, award pewter medals to the fourth place finishers.

Modern pewters contain little or no lead, which has been replaced with antimony or bismuth

Bismuth

Bismuth is a chemical element that has the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. This heavy, brittle, white crystalline trivalent poor metal has a pink tinge and chemically resembles arsenic and antimony....
. Older pewters with higher lead content are heavier, tarnish faster, and oxidation

Redox

Redox describes all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation number changed.This can be either a simple redox process such as the oxidation of carbon to yield carbon dioxide or the reduction of carbon by hydrogen to yield methane , or it can be a complex process such as the oxidation of sugar in the human body through a ser...
gives them a darker silver-grey color. When modern pewter does become tarnished, it is more easily cleaned than "classic" pewter.

Solder

Solder

A solder is a fusible alloy metal alloy with a melting point or melting range of 90 to 450 ?Celsius , used in a process called soldering where it is melted to join metallic surfaces....
, used to fuse metals such as pipes and electrical connections, is basically pewter wire. Solder has often a lower tin content than normal pewter (around 60% tin) but exceptions do occur. For example, solder made of 96% tin and 4% silver is commonly available.

Pewter

Uses

See also

External links