Pewter pictures and hallmarks...

[borg]

I have yet to see a candle stick that wasn't made of brass in India.
I find little stuff,, ash trays, small award cups, one tankard, some plates, and a few candy dishes.
Apparently the good, big stuff never came down south.

[konsole]

Those "daily bread" trays/plates are at every place I got to, same with the pewtarex/RWP/Wilton decorative plates

[konsole]

I have yet to see a candle stick that wasn't made of brass in India.
I find little stuff,, ash trays, small award cups, one tankard, some plates, and a few candy dishes.
Apparently the good, big stuff never came down south.

The candlesticks are such a tease. They could weigh 12+ ounces, but then you know that the junk they are weighted with is 75% of that. I remember finding one weighted candlestick that I took a chance on because its base was different then other ones. It turned out to have a galvanized disk in its base instead of that waxy junk, and the disk was a much lighter percentage of the weight then that waxy junk usually is. So there was much more then 4-5 ounces of pewter that most weighted sticks have.

[Twmaster]

Heh, and you think the weighted pewter candlesticks are awful....

I bought 2 little candlesticks marked "Sterling Weighted". These other than the shine on the metal looked nearly identical to the same thing in pewter.

The metal was indeed Sterling Silver. But holy cow it was just thicker than foil. Between the two candlesticks I got 33 grams of 92.5% silver. Still worth more than the $6.50 paid.

The entire inside was some nearly cement hard plaster casting.

As to pewter not making it to the south... This appears to be close to true. I see so little these days. At least compared to you guys in the east etc.

[bhn22]

I found a beautiful Norwegian candle holder last week. The workmanship was exquisite! Great detail, medieval subject matter, and in beautiful condition. A true joy to behold!

I hit it with a hammer to knock the base weight loose, it appeared to be some sort of pine based resin with sand and perhaps sawdust. Then I melted it. It's even more beautiful as 1.5 lbs in ingot form for $3.00.

[Twmaster]

I found a beautiful Norwegian candle holder last week. The workmanship was exquisite! Great detail, medieval subject matter, and in beautiful condition. A true joy to behold!

I hit it with a hammer to knock the base weight loose, it appeared to be some sort of pine based resin with sand and perhaps sawdust. Then I melted it. It's even more beautiful as 1.5 lbs in ingot form for $3.00.

[borg]

Pine resin?
Good flux?

[SlippShodd]

A couple years ago, I actually ran across one of the "Our Daily Bread" plates that was hallmarked pewter... and didn't buy it. They wanted something like 15 bucks for it and I just couldn't fade the cost.
Never seen any of the candlesticks you guys are always talking about, but we can always count on the Sheffield tankards out here. Better if they're dented... even better if they have someone's name engraved on them. Picked up a nicely dented one last week with the flip lid on it. Not many plates, platters, or picture frames, but we gots cups.

mike

[jsizemore]

Pine resin?
Good flux?

Right up there with beeswax. Comes free when you use pine saw dust/shavings. Pine knot, lighter stump will work too. I've scraped pine sap from a damaged tree and it works fine too.

[bdecker9]

About smashing stuff, my ma n pa's neighbor, collects bears, when she heard me and my mom talking about pewter, she came over and interrupted us. What you want with pewter she asked. I'm just telling my mom to get me some at flee markets and such, I kinda just keep talking to mom. The neighbor says "I collect pewter bears". I'm like ok. She keeps asking what I want the stuff for. Finally, I tell her that I melt it down and it goes into boolits. She says would you melt something like this, producing a small keychain that looks like a bear. I said honestly, that I'd never seen one, but that I most likely wouldn't discriminate, long as the wife didn't desire said bear. She made a face like I'd pee'd on here prize roses, and I've know this lady for 20 years, never heard a cuss word from here , ever. She says something like, I love those bears, dont melt my FN Herstal bears, Brandon. I had to assure her that if I saw any animal pewter that I'd bring it by her before I "re-purposed" it, just to get away. Some people love this stuff more than us I am sure of that.

[Crazyrcflier]

I found these today at the thrift shop. Lady said that they were really neat. I just agreed and didn't tell her their final destination.
6 in all 12.4 oz a piece with the glass knocked out. Paid $6.60 for all of them.

When I seen them, the wife was like "how do you know what it is?". I just told her the signs and if it's not pewter, that's the cost of some tuition.

It's unhallmarked, soldered joints, yields to hand pressure easily.

[imashooter2]

They do have the look... Are you sure there isn't any text around the base ring?

[bdecker9]

I always scratch stuff with a key, if I can. Not like you can do it in front of the owner, but I have yet to buy something that wouldn't melt like that.

[Crazyrcflier]

No text that I can see with my nearly perfect vision. I scratched it with a exacto knife and it peeled up a ribbon of material. I will melt this weekend. I am 95% sure it's pewter. Hope it is, my pewter stash was only a pitiful 11 ounces (only been looking for 4 months with little luck).

[bdecker9]

Does anyone know what the Jefferson's cups weigh?

[imashooter2]

4.0 - 4.8 ounces each for the standard size. They make small ones too that are about 3 ounces.

[imashooter2]

No text that I can see with my nearly perfect vision. I scratched it with a exacto knife and it peeled up a ribbon of material. I will melt this weekend. I am 95% sure it's pewter. Hope it is, my pewter stash was only a pitiful 11 ounces (only been looking for 4 months with little luck).

It probably is the real deal. The small ring that holds in the glass might be aluminum, but the rest should be good stuff.

[bdecker9]

Imashooter2, thanks for being on top of this for us. Really helps out . Especially when bidding on stuff I can get my paws on b4 buy.

[jsizemore]

Does anyone know what the Jefferson's cups weigh?

I just weighed a set of 4 Stieff Jefferson cups with the same engraving that weigh 4.5,4.8, 4.8, & 5. I thought production would be a bit closer then that.

[jsizemore]

I found these today at the thrift shop. Lady said that they were really neat. I just agreed and didn't tell her their final destination.
6 in all 12.4 oz a piece with the glass knocked out. Paid $6.60 for all of them.

When I seen them, the wife was like "how do you know what it is?". I just told her the signs and if it's not pewter, that's the cost of some tuition.

It's unhallmarked, soldered joints, yields to hand pressure easily.

I've done a few of those. They don't have the traditional flat ring against the glass on the bottom. The ring underneath is the same shape as the foot/base you see on the outside. The bottom roll crimp is still there to take it apart. If I remember correctly, it has "Olde English Pewter" in fine script near the glass. I had to wear my 8x loop to see it. The handle is substantial with a higher percentage of antimony/copper. I held on to a handle while the rest of the tankard melted in the pot. It was solid end to end and wouldn't bend. Like Crazy said very heavy for a glass bottom tankard.