The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-03-19
PEWTER'S ORIGIN ANDITS HISTORY
 SHOWN IN ESSAY
English Kings Formerly Rented Services for
 Holiday Occasions

Inat a very large OA H sons in this part of the world are ih- terested in pewter and have collected it extensively is abundantly demon strated by the remarkable loan eanl- bition in the Museum of Fine Arts. Not only the collectors of pewter, but a great number of visitors to the Mu- scum also, will be glad of the lnror- mationon the subject contained Ill weIl-considered historical introduc- tion to the exhibition which is sup piled by the department of western art. From this assay we are permit ted to take the following passages:
 The origin of pewter seems to have been of considerable antiquity, but it's discovery has not been attributed to any country. Latin writers speak of it frequently, and fragments or Ro- man pewter dishes of the fourth ana fifth centuries A. D. have been found in England. Pewter is an alloy Tn which a large per cent. of tin is com bined with varying proportions or lead and other metals. It is an 1n- expensive material, soft and easily worked. Being fusible at a low tenn perature, it is not practicable for cooking purposes, but it served many other domestic uses in England and on the Continent from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. US soft gray color is particularly attrac- tive against a background of dark wood such as the panelled oak rooms of English country houses furnished. The word 'tgarnish," which we now use meaning ''to decorate" was ori- ginally applied to a set of pewter comprising twelve platters, twelve dishes and twelve saucers. Thus when these were arranged on an oak dresser or sideboard the room was "garnished.'' It took several hundred pounds of pewter to supply an Eng fish kitchen in those days, and it is recorded that in one of our old Salem houses there were 453 pounds of pew ter.
 Renting Pewter For Holidays It was usual in England to rent pewter services for banquets and holi- day occasions, and the richer crafts men kept supply on hand for that purpose. The nobles and even the king himself followed this custom. One of the first records of the prac- tice is found in the account of the coronation of Edward I. of England in 1274. The dishes necessary for serving meal at that period were not varied. A large platter or charger for the meat and vegetables, individ- ual plates, drinking vessels, salts and spoons, were the most important ones. Tn the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when living became more luxurious and ceremonious, a great number of new shapes came into use.
 Very little of the English pewter I . L y-,I I~I e. ornament as was so much of the Con- tinental ware, and the daily securing would have soon worn off anything but the simplest mouldings, Gliding and painting applied to pewter was forbidden in England. The shapes, however. always followed those of the silver of the period and some of the later punches initiated silver hall marks very closely. At an early date the church made laws forbidding the use of pewter vessels in the commun- ion. service, but the poverty of the churches periodically necessitated it's use when the gold and, silver vessels had been sent to the melting pot to satisfy demands for funds for the crown. Today almost no church pew ter exists which dates before the Re- formation.
 England took the lead in the nak- ing of pewter in the Middle Ages, probably because of the superior quality of the tin from the mines of Cornwall. Edward I. granted the pewterers' guild many privileges, and | it was at first called the Craft ~br Mys- 1 tery of Pewterers.- Early in the sev- 1 enteenth century the name was changed to the Company of Pewter ] CTS. A hall was built in the fifteenth century, where an annual banquet and all business transactions took place. The Virgin was the patron. ess of the Mystery.
 There were three grades of Eng | fish pewter. "Sadware,'' i. e., plates and platters, were made of the best quality as they received the hardest | use. Hollow ware was made from the second, which contained antimony 'Trifle," the third quality, had large proportion of antimony, and was use6 for public house vessels and small ob. jects. Anthony made the metal harc
 but brittle. Gun metal mou1ds were
 used for making hollow ware. Wood
 en moulds were often used where
 only a few castings were to be made Next to moulds the hammer was the
 most necessary tool Its hitting face had to be kept free from scratche:
 and brightly polished. or it would
 mark the surface of the pewter. Un. til the eighteenth century the 1atf
 was kept for special uses such as bur. nishing and finishing tankards and
 flagons; but about 175O it became the
 most important factor in the industry
 and was used to finish all objects l made in a mould.
 i The weight of all wares was regu
 lated and an x crowned originally in.
 dicated the first quality. It is, how | ever, also found on Scottish and
 European pewter. The rose crowned
 was the Company's mark, pu. that
 too, lost it's significance by being used
 as a private stamp and in Scotland I On the Continent, especially ir France and Germany, the early use
 of pewter vessels was confined to the
 court, the nobility and the ecclesias
 tical dinitaries, who demanded more l elaborate shapes than the English | and greater richness of decoration | Francois Briot in France and Gas par Enderlein, in Germany, are two l of the most noted producers of pew ter in the "silver fashion" The sil
 versmiths at last became alarmed a the fine quality of the pewter produc ed by these men, and appealed for z law to prevent them from ever work ing in the precious metals.
 Lille, Ghent, Nuremberg, Paris ant
 Rouen were some of the importan cNnfroS of hc iDdncfrv on the Con