The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-09-16
Old Pieces Which Arc Best
 Worth Buying
PROCESS OF MANUFAC TURF
Helps to Distinguish the Genuine Arti. cle-Value of Old Pewter-Country House Needs Bringing Pew
 ter into Use Again.

| goes so far back that 1t is hard to assign date to the precise time when 1t sue ceeded wood Indeed. even after pewter drinking vessels were in use, wooden trenchers were found in many households since they were cheaper, easier to obtain, and at a pinch could be made in the house.
 Perhaps the earliest use of pewter was | for church vessels, though thls was strongly opposed by the Catholic church on the ground that pewter was not sui hciently precious. The council of Reims in the year SAT and the synod of canter- bury in the thirteenth century forbade the use of pewter for the paten and chal- 1 ice
 | In 1252 at Nismes these two decisions were confirmed, but poor communities were permitted to use their pewter yes sels. In Belgium at the present day the eucharistic vessels for daily use are of pewter, and until the revolution i'll France it was the custom to reserve the vessels of precious metal for special oc- casions.
 The princes of the state as well as the princes of the church used pewter in their households till well into the middle ages. l In 129O King Edward l. had leaden yes sells in which the boiled meats for the coronation were cooked, and had sup | ply of more than 300 pewter dishes, salt cellars, platters and cups in his posses sion. Louis XIV. took the silver plate Of i his subjects to pay for his wars and oth- | CT projects, and deoreed that they use pewter, allowing the dgnitaries of the i church to have their vessels inlaid with precious metals.
 Made in Orient. If we turn to the Orient we will find | that pewter was made and worked there much earlier, as far back as two thou : sand years ago In London are pisees of Japanese pewter which are known to ! be 100 years old the composition of the alloy being lead and tin.
 | The composition of pewter varies, not only in the country in which it was made, but also as regards the purpose for which 1 it Is to be used. It Is safe to say that the best pewter was made in England, since 1t was matter which was strictly looked after by the Worshipful Company of Pew 1 terers, who fined and otherwise punished | those makers whom they discovered mak- | ing r:ieies below standard either as to 1 weight or quality.
 The very best pewter was what was 1 known as plate pewter, which contained 100 parts of tin, parts of antlmony and
 4 parts of copper. Ley metal, the poorest
 and cheapest quality contained 80 per
 cent of tin and 20 of lead Common pew ter, known as trine had S2 per cent. of
 tin and IS of sntimony, while the quality used for small salt cellars, tokens and little ewers had 90 per cent. of tin and 10 ] per cent. of lead.
 At the end of the sixteenth century.
 that is, during the time of Shakespeare l and of Queen Elizabeth, pewter was sold by the aarnlsh. Harrison. who wrote his
 Prescription of England" in 1557, has this to say:
 Such furniture of this metal is com
 monly sold by the garnish which doth 1 contain 12 platters. 12 dishes 12 saucers, and theqe are either of silver fashion, or else with brode or narrow brims, and bought by the pound, which is TOW valued at pence or peradventure at 8 pence.'
 Silver fashion has always been popular in pewter and many old silversmiths
 moulds were used for this purpose. You
 will find pitchers and sugar bowls exactly like those of the same period in silver
 made in pewter, and law was enacted
 by which pewterers only could put their
 marks on pewter, silversmiths being de-
 barred. Nor were any allowed to make it who did not belong to the guild of | pewterers.
 Known as Touch-Marks.
 The marks which you will find on al-
 most all pieces of pewter are known as
 touch-marks. and they were registered at
 the guildha1l of the company The rose | and crown Is the mark most often found
 on pewter and people who find it on
 their specimens usually ascribe them to | England. This may may not be cor rect, for the mark is found on Dutch
 German. French, Flemish and Scotch ware also.
 Much London pewter has the X on it. l nd h | ware the word "blanc" sometimes ap- pears, denoting the same thing. the pres | cree of lead fin all cases being shown by
 thte bluIsh tint of the pewter.
 It is impossible to say how much lead a specimen contains without applying n 1 chemical test. In passing a piece of pew
 ter over a bit of white paper the pres | ence of lead Is shown by its leaving | dark mark; the greater the amount of | lead the darker the mark. Pewter which | is 20 per cent. tin and 10 per cent lead will leave no mark. and with less than | 75 per cent of tin all pewter will leave | mark.
 | Pewter hollow ware was usually cast | in moulds made of gun metal. though as these were costly. plaster of paris, sand | or some cheap metal was also used. If l possible such articles as spoons small salt cellars, porringers tokens, bleeding | dishes, etc. were cast In one piece. ! Larger pieces like tanlkards of big ew- CTS. were cast in sections. the parts sol Aered together and then finished off, but it is almost always possible to detect the | joint. Eared dishes, as Dorringers and l bleeding dishes were called. were. accord 1 ing to the rules of the company to be | cast in one piece and members were | fined for soldering on the ears afterward, i and such dishes were considered inferior. Look at your porringer and how 1t | is made. The highest class ware was marked on the bottom inferior ware be- | ing marked on the face.
 1 Plates properly made were first cast and then hammered. four or five rows of l hammer marks showing on the under side This gave them good finish and added strength 10 the metal. This rule | Of casting first applied to small plates | only platters and chargers being made | entirely by the hammer from rolled sheets | of the metal. and in some cases the edges | had extra stiffening to make them dura- | ble.
 No "Silver" Pewter. | People will sometimes tell you that | thteir herlooms are of silver pewter" but it Is hardly likely that tin of itself l extremely brittle. should have silver add | ed, since this metal would but enhance | that quality Sebaldus Ruprecht. q four | teenth century pewterer, made himself | and his wares famous. since he made | thtem to resemble silver SD closely "Sil- yorilm' was invented in 1852. but the pew l terers would not allow any of their mem \ bers to work with the inventor, and he