Help on Lead(?) Plate Stamp and Rollmark

[jonp]

I picked up some scrap lead yesterday one piece of which looks like an 8 or 10in lead plate. You can bend it easily and it was in the lead bin.

The back has 2 marks on it. One stamp is a shield with diagonal stripes from left to right with one human figure on each side of the shield holding up a crown over the top of the shield.

Under the 2 shield logo's, there are two identical shield logos, is a stamp in gothic type script which looks like Rlem or Klem with a bar over the m.

On the front side around the rim is some stylized writing which is kinda hard to read. One is Scheiber (maybe) another name and 2 Juni 1864.

Opposite that inscription is another name which looks like JH Zahn or Zalin.

I'm not going to melt this down until I find out if it is a reproduction of something or authentic. In NC you might run into anything and it could be civil war that someone got from an old house they were demolishing or out of an old tobacco drying barn and just wanted the scrap money.

[Geezer in NH]

I'd check the pewter hallmarks thread. Plates have been made of it.

[jonp]

I did check but didn't see anything like it. I don't think that it is pewter. I can easily bend the plate in half with my hands and I don't think pewter is that soft is it? At least the stuff I have seen isn't and it not only thunks on cement it is dull grey.

[bangerjim]

X-ray gun shoot is the only to know. All other is just guesswork. Find a scrapyard that will do it for you. Mine do it for free when I buy stuff.

Then you will know for sure!

banger

[scottfire1957]

A pic of the marks might help.

[Cowboy_Dan]

You can bend pewter, when you do you can hear the tin nodules "weep", it's kind of like a groaning sound. It's no xrf, but it'll do in a pinch.

[jonp]

Im not really concerned on whether its lead or pewter at this point. Im more interested on the stamp and inscription. We did a bunch of internet searching this week and drew a blank

[RogerDat]

Destructive but pewter, solder, and tin as compared to plain lead melt/become solid at different temps and present a different physical appearance and hardness once melted.

I would suggest some caution in destroying an unknown item however as "modern" pewter has no lead to speak of. Older and antique pewter on the other hand was made using lead, less lead and more tin was mostly about being higher quality product back before lead poisoning was a factor. Lot of working and middle class pewter of antique vintage would be higher lead content pewter.

[jonp]

Just posted elsewhere but the plate is probably pewter. This from an antique dealer set up next the the gunshow in Raleigh. The guy said the plate might be worth up to $400 depending on whether the rollmark can be identified. It's still worth at least $45 regardless. Pretty good for about a $1 in the scrap lead bin at the junkyard.

[Nose Dive]

Yep... You pay your money....you take your chance.... And $1 big potatoe is a steal.....

I smelt a lot of 'pewter'... or so I think.... get it like you.....find where you can...pay as little as you can.... so....

Bought 100s or so of 'pewter' from a buddy just back from Africa.... no marks...no stamps....nada... paid a case of beer....

So...the peweter was 50% lead and unkown % aluminum.... so... he got a good deal....I got screwed... but,, he was a friend and I did drink some of the beer..... go figure...

Look at the stamps...check them out on this site or on other web sites.... if the piece is worth $400...go for it! get the cash...order some lead and tin and smelt away... $400 dollars ahead of where your started!!!

And,,,,keep your keester around that scrap yard!! sound like a good place to scrounge around....might find some sliver.....

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.