Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-05-26
PEWTER PLATES.
Some of the Exhibits Now BEING
Shown in London.

Shown in London.
being held at Clifford's Inn hall. Fleet
street, will arouse in many minds a
feeling of surprise that, while pottery
and china of every kind have been
treated fully-both from the historical
and from the artistic points of view
so little, comparatively ject of pewter
ware before the reading public. For
centuries pewter-a very superior
kind of ware, it may be remarked, to
that now used for pint pots and the
like-was used in England very extern
sively for both domestic and ecclesias-
teal purposes. Until comparatively
recently, even old pewter was little
regarded or cared for with the result
that very large quantities were treated
as old metal, and were melted down,
and consequently a certain rarity has
begun to attach to fine examples of
the real, genuine old ware. There are
now many collectors on the lookout for
good specimens, and the tendency of
prices is sure to be upward. Occa-
sionally old examples are found I'M
expectedly. Three or four years ago,
in the course of excavations near Guys
hospital, two pewter plates, part of a
service of two sizes, were unearthed.
They are now in the British Museum.
The museum also has a large plate en-
graved in the center with the royal
arms of Charles l., encircled by the
garter. with the initials &c. r." inter-
twined with other devices round the
rim.
In some places the use of pewter
for dinner services lasted long after
it had been ousted from most tables
by the invasion of delf and china. In
1886, Southey. when travelling in De-
vonshire, visited the Rev f. Bray, the
husband of the west country novelist,
at Tavistock, and wrote to his daughter
that Mr.. Bray's was the only house in
which he had eaten off pewter since
his childhood. His host had COM
plete service of it, with his crest en-
graved upon it, and bright as silver.
/ At the table of the Inner Temple
pewter plates were still in use only
fifty years ago. No one who has
not seen a good service of the genuine
old ware can realize how bright and
really beautifully it may be. Common
china and delf are very cheap, and
/ can be bought in an infinite variety of
undistinguished patterns, but it may
be doubted whether the modern
kitchen dresser, especially in the
smaller class of house, with its COM
mon Hooking plates, often cracked or
Drowned, makes half so fine show as
its predecessor of times gone by did
with its rows of shining pewter. Read
ers of Longfellow's ''Evangeline" will
remember the happy smile in the
lines describing the Acadian farmers
kitchen-Longfellow' SMILES are often
most felicitous-where, as the good
man sat nodding at the fireside-
Faces. clumsi1y carved in oak. on the
armchair,
Laughed in the pickering light and
pewter plates on the dresser
Caught and reflected the flame, as
: shields of armies the sunshine.
I A full set of pewter plates and
dishes was termed a garnish. The
name was applied also to set of YES
sells for table use when made of sill
yer. but. properly speaking, it de
noted a set Of pewter, and was in use
from early in the fifteenth till near the
end of the seventeenth century. A gar
aish consisted of twelve plates, twelve
dishes. and twelve saucers or small
mates, made with broad or narrow
bf-ims and sold. in Tudor times. by
weight at the rate Of from Sd. TO Sd. per
pound. But the price varied. of
course. with the quality and work
manship. In 1854 the Pewterers' Com
pany presented the Kings Attorney
with a garaish Of vessels which cost
4&d. the pound; but in the same year
the company gave him also two dozen
trenches which cost Cd. the. pound.
The increased price was probably due