Pewter confusion

[fatelk]

I was just melting down some (I assume) pewter plates, and ran into some confusion. I've had these sitting around for years, bought them as pewter but now I'm not sure. I had to crank the pot up hotter than I expected, and the resulting ingots seem very hard, harder than linotype.

I've never actually worked with pewter before so maybe I'm just confused. The plates have the mark on them as in the photo, and "95/100" and an F in a circle. I want to make sure of exactly what it is, since I sold it. The buyer hasn't sent money yet, but either way if it's not good bullet metal I'll owe him a big apology.

[William Yanda]

Did they bend easily? Scratch with a knife compared to aluminum? Temperature of melt point?
Sorry, I don't recognize the mark.
Bill

[Beagle333]

See Post #166

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?127929-Pewter-pictures-and-hallmarks/page9

[captaint]

Sure looks like the material in IS2's post #166 in the referenced thread. Certainly IS2 knows a lot more about pewter than I do. The plate in this thread looks a little like cast to me. I do know that ALL of the pewter I've melted said "pewter" somewhere on it.

[fatelk]

After sleeping on it and looking at it again this morning it sure looks like pot metal to me (zinc alloy). It was fairly brittle when bent and tore/broke into shards. It took way too much heat to melt. The ingots are really hard. I'll melt down the other pieces that I know are pewter for comparison.

This reminds me of a bunch of "pewter" I got from an old guy at a gun show years ago, already in ingots. When I tried to melt some it took a lot of heat and the ingots were very hard. I chucked it, assuming that it was some pot metal that he had melted thinking it was pewter.

As to the mark, I can see the angel now, after looking at post 166. What little info I found online seems to indicate that that mark and the 95/100 indicate pewter but the more I look at it the more convinced I am that it's pot metal/garbage.

[imashooter2]

See Post #166

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?127929-Pewter-pictures-and-hallmarks/page9

And post 396. :(

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?127929-Pewter-pictures-and-hallmarks&p=2863730&viewfull=1#post2863730

Looks exactly like what I got in that one bad batch.

[fatelk]

Yep, sure looks similar. Fake/reproduction hallmarks in some kind of worthless pot metal?

[imashooter2]

That's what I figured. No more wall hanger plates for me...

[fatelk]

Well, I just melted down the other two pieces I had that ARE pewter, and they were quite different. They were much softer when I flattened and bent them to go into the pot, melted at a much lower temperature, ingots are not as hard, and they have a different shine than the other garbage. So much for my adventures in pewter. I'm glad I caught it before shipping it off.

It's funny, I'm not a die hard metal scrounger or garage-saler, but in all the times I've looked around at garage sales or second hand stores this is the only pewter I've ever run across, at least at remotely reasonable prices, and most of it wasn't even pewter. I wonder if it's a regional thing? Either that or there's a high concentration of casters here and it's all snatched up before I see it.


I do know that ALL of the pewter I've melted said "pewter" somewhere on it.
I will certainly remember that. And watch out for fake hallmarks!

[imashooter2]

In about 600 pounds scrounged, those wall hanger plates were the only marked items I've ever had that weren't genuine. I've had lots of hallmarked holloware that had the makers mark, but not the word (whether pewter, zinn, etain, or peltro). I've even had a fair number of wall hanger plates with the beaded angel marks that were the real deal. But the one buy with the fakes has really put me off of wall hangers. Only holloware for me now.

[jsizemore]

I've got a couple of those. The first didn't have the angel and when I tried to bend it, it broke. When I stuck it in a pot of melted pewter alloy it popped and sent a mini tinsel fairy spray. The next one had an angel in profile PLAYING A HORN with a circle around it. I assume it's Gabriel playing his horn. No joy in a pot of melted pewter alloy at 475degF. It appears to be a stamped piece with the figures in relief front and back. The commemorative plates that have the figures in relief only on the front are the real deal. They usually have an inscription on the back. I still haven't discovered what the bad plate alloy could be. Maybe somebody with access to an XRF gun could check it for us?