Most you will pay for pewter?

[brewer12345]

Obviously sometimes you have to guess on the weight and it is easy to be off. What is the most you will knowingly pay for pewter? I need to buy some tin for casting and my ready alternatives are $7 a pound for pewter via one of the member sellers here or 60/40 (claimed) ingots for $3/pound (effectively $5 or so for a pound of tin). I guess I will knowingly go as high as $4, but obviously the lower the better.

[Gofaaast]

<$5 is my goal. 90% of what I find fits this goal. Lately though I only encounter pewter one out of ten trips to the thrift stores. Not much old money around where I live now has a lot to due with it though.

[Grmps]

Depends on how low my stock is. The less I have left the more I'll pay. I still try to stay <$5

[Beagle333]

It depends on how much I got. Of course I'd rather find it for 50 cents, but if I'm running low I'm happy to pay $9. That's still half the retail price of tin.

[Swede 45]

I buy my pewter at the scapyard at 10$ per kilo. Usually cheaper in the long run than buying odd things at flea markets. Bought a nice set out big cups once.. Turned out to be fake pewter, even though it was stamped with pewter..
At the yard if in doubt I just ask them to x-ray the item.

[GhostHawk]

Last time wife brought home pewter I checked the tin price, it was 10.60 per pound at that point.

So I was aiming to stay under 5$ per pound my cost. I got lucky, she brought home 6.25 pounds for 11$ cost.

And I am one happy camper. And I have enough to last me for a while.

Have to admit, it sure makes pretty bullets.

[imashooter2]

When I was buying, I liked to be under $4 a pound. At the time, I was selling at $8 a pound after smelting, casting ingots and packing.

[RogerDat]

I shoot for between $3 and $4 if there is a quantity involved. However a tiny vase for 99 cents may not be 1/4 pound but it IS less than a buck out of pocket so I'll buy it. I hit some lucky finds over the years on solder and pewter so now I buy it because I find it, not because I really need it (at least not now) When it comes to components and supplies I'm in the use 1 then buy 2 camp. So if I make a big batch of alloy and use 5# of tin alloy I'll be trying to replace it with 10#. Sort of builds up over time.

Might make sense to splurge on a basic stock through a seller here in S&S forum which will allow you to be a bit more selective in prices you will pay when scrounging. Don't forget to check for rolls of solder at garage sales. My best was nearly full 1# roll of silver solder (nearly 100% tin) for a buck, but lots of partial rolls at "average joe" garage sales for less than a dollar. Did have a member that reported he purchased something like a 5 or 10# roll of water safe lead free mostly tin solder for like $1 a pound or something nearly that sweet. I think over a summer of garage sales I get around 10# of solder, don't forget to check inside the old rusty tool boxes at those garage sales.

[308Jeff]

When I was hitting the thrift stores my goal was also less than $5.00/lb. I haven't looked for a while because I have around 50lbs in ingots, and I don't know how much in unmelted stuff in a box.

Guess I should get back at it though, there is fun in the hunt.

[John Boy]

The general public does not know the composition of pewter be 80% tin and 20% lead. So work on the basis the the going price of tin is $15/lb. So pay accordingly what you want pay less than $15 based on the weight of the pewter

[Yodogsandman]

I'll go as high as $3 per pound for food grade, hallmarked pewter. Getting good at figuring the weight by the feel and size. Mostly from yard sales.

[silly goose]

I won't pay. Too much out there for nothing.

[imashooter2]

Really? Too much available for free? How much free pewter did you get this month?

[lwknight]

I kinda wonder where some of this (too much) free pewter is located myself. Silly Goose , why would you not collect up that free pewter and resell it to us for a nice profit?

[lwknight]

The general public does not know the composition of pewter be 80% tin and 20% lead. So work on the basis the the going price of tin is $15/lb. So pay accordingly what you want pay less than $15 based on the weight of the pewter

The old pewter had some lead but as of the last years, it is 95% tin and 5% antimony with a touch of copper.

[lwknight]

Pewter is a source of convenience for inexpensive tin but don't get to thinking that you need pewter. We can buy tin easy enough albeit a higher cost. So we keep an eye out for the chance of luck to find some cheap pewter. I'm just saying not to get caught up paying high prices for pewter.

[brassrat]

The old pewter had some lead but as of the last years, it is 95% tin and 5% antimony with a touch of copper.
I read the VERY old pewter had lead in it, like pre 1800-20

[kevin c]

I am averaging around $3 a pound: $2 on the low end and and around $7 at the high end. I'm trying to keep it under five dollars a pound.

It is fun to scavenge and get a good deal, but it totally discounts my time and gas. I still have much of what Orisolo had sold me, but there is definitely some satisfaction to building up a reserve at a good price, so I expect to keep on looking.

[MaryB]

Trick us silver collectors use, dollar cost averaging. I track what I buy on a spreadsheet and it gives me my average silver price on the bottom. Still running under $10oz! Simple to do is add up all the prices and divide by total pounds.

[labradigger1]

$1 a piece of pewter is my max. I pass up on a lot but get a lot as well.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

It's gotta be cheap, especially if you factor in all the pewter-like items you buy that are not pewter
:cry: ask me how I know :cry:

anyway, most of what I've bought, candle sticks and belt buckles and such, I buy at garage sales, I try to not spend for than 50¢ an item

[kevin c]

I haven't seen any pewter for a buck out here in the San Francisco Bay Area except a thimble and a 1 1/2 " tall mini beer mug.

I'm guessing it's regional? The more around the lower the price?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I haven't seen any pewter for a buck out here in the San Francisco Bay Area except a thimble and a 1 1/2 " tall mini beer mug.

I'm guessing it's regional? The more around the lower the price?

Regional: I've never been to San Francisco, but I expect the cost of living is much higher than rural Minnesota. So I suspect, for a thrift store to stay in business in the Bay area, prices would have to be higher and I suspect there is higher traffic in those stores, as to command those higher prices.

[kevin c]

Good point. It's true that I generally pay more at Goodwill, which has overhead, and also has the time to see if the item moves at their higher price, than I do at estate sales, where there is just the desire to sell everything in the one or two days of the sale.

[deac777]

I'll pay up to $4 a pound. The thrift store near me has pewter quit often, so I just wait until I find a good priced item.

[sergeant69]

i wouldn't know pewter if it run up and bit me in the ***. is it stamped PEWTER on stuff like old cups or does it have a symbol?

[lightman]

Theres a good sticky about pewter pictures and hallmarks that can tell you more than you want to know. There is a learning curve to it, for sure!

[jsizemore]

My average cost for this past year's pewter accumulation was $3.74/ lb. I used to stay under $3 but lately it's gotten sparse.