It can, however, be polished to a bright silver shine with a soft cloth. This dullish silver metal alloy is very popular today. It gives a medieval or antique appearance to things. Lead free pewter can give the appearance of sterling silver from a distance, though the touch and weight of each pewter piece is quite different were it compared to a similar sterling silver piece. Leaded pewter will get darker with age, and is difficult to buff up to its original shine and color.
Pewter is a soft material, and thus very malleable into many shapes and designs.
It is very popular among the college age crowd as a less expensive substitute for sterling silver. The pewter beads on these pages are pewter gray in color. There are different qualities of pewter, usually dependent on how much lead is used in its formula. The more lead, the lower the quality. The more lead, the more the pewter darkens and tarnishes with age.