Another Pewter find

[LenH]

225049[ATTACH=CONFIG]225050[/ATTACH I found this piece yesterday at
a Salvation Army store. It weighs a little less than a pound and is a bit beat up but it was less than the sticker price. I saw some stuff marked
Pewterex and put it back and left it there. I stopped by another thrift store and it was a bust.

My 4 year old grandson saw it and asked what it was and told me that I needed to put a candle in it and hang it up.

[dbosman]

Good score. Put a candle in it and hang it on a wall while you offer it on an auction site. That is a decorator piece.

[Tripplebeards]

Haven't seen one of those yet. I sold a mug I bought for $4.90 on eBay a few weeks ago for $80 shipped. If I can turn a few bucks on it the $ goes back into my pewter buying funds or rifle funds. I bought another mug yesterday that was just under a pound for $3.99. Not the best deal by far but couldn't resist. The handle was pretty thick and it said English pewter on the bottom.

[merlin101]

Good score. Put a candle in it and hang it on a wall while you offer it on an auction site. That is a decorator piece.
^^^^Oh Yeah!^^^

[lightman]

You Guys and your pewter make me envious! I hardly ever find any. I would hate to melt some of the nicer pieces that you do find.

[redhawk0]

That wall sconce is nice...I found several of them...almost 1.5 each for me. I don't see it as anything but pewter...so I just melt it all. I'm not in it for the resale business....its generally not worth my time. (however, that $4.90 mug you sold for $80 could make me rethink that...it was a beautiful mug for sure).

redhawk

[LenH]

[QUOTE=lightman;4431169]You Guys and your pewter make me envious! I hardly ever find any. I would hate to melt some of the nicer pieces that you do find.[/

I hardly ever find any myself, If I am close by one of these places I'll stop in and take a quick look. I went to several on Saturday and it was a total strikeout.
I think I have found a total of 3# of the stuff and have about $7 in all of it. I passed on a tankard at a Goodwill about a month ago it was nearly $8 and it still had
the glass in the bottom. It was monogramed and I guess they thought it was special.

[RogerDat]

[QUOTE=lightman;4431169]You Guys and your pewter make me envious! I hardly ever find any. I would hate to melt some of the nicer pieces that you do find.[/

I hardly ever find any myself, If I am close by one of these places I'll stop in and take a quick look. I went to several on Saturday and it was a total strikeout.
I think I have found a total of 3# of the stuff and have about $7 in all of it. I passed on a tankard at a Goodwill about a month ago it was nearly $8 and it still had
the glass in the bottom. It was monogramed and I guess they thought it was special.

Yeah I have to sometimes bite my tongue on inscribed pieces to not ask is that the price if my name or initials are the same? Or do you expect me to pay that much of a mug that is inscribed "Susan Smith 1983" since the mustache should be first clue my name isn't Susan.

I have sold some pewter to local antique places when the wholesale price exceeds the value of the pewter. I don't really want to do retail sales but if 10# of pewter is "worth" at best $80 as tin and a local shop will give me $120 as pewter items I'm going to take the $120. The hassle comes in when I look up prices to make sure I'm not selling something of real value too cheap. I kept a couple of plates that are from late 1700's or early 1800's based on style and trace of makers mark. Not super valuable but lasted this long so.... I also kept a mug with a whistle built into the handle and anything my wife likes. There was a small trophy cup from Scotland 1942 that I won't melt. I'm actually trying to find out what it was for.

And same here I'll buy it even if not a "great" deal as long as I know it is pewter and the price is less than market price by a bit. I don't consider $4 per pound for something that sells for $7 or $8 a pound to be horrible waste of money.

[Bookworm]

We had some out of town guests a few weeks ago. We took them into town, as the town nearby is somewhat historical (example ; Tom Mix tended bar here, prior to going to Hollywood, and becoming a famous silent movie cowboy....).
There are some antique shops that we visited, and I actually found some pewter pieces for decent prices. I came away with a bit over 5 pounds, averaging under $3/lb.

The point being, expand the search. I had never before gone into an antique store looking for pewter, fearing the prices would be ridiculous. I was wrong.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I picked up my pewter win on an on line auction site today. It is 4 candlesticks with the shortest being 5" tall and the largest being 10". The other 2 fall in between of different heights. The other piece is a tankard. All pieces are stamped pewter with a crest of some kind. The total weight is a bit over 5 lbs. With my bid and the commission it came to $5.25. I also got a 1969 yellow wood Coke-Cola pop carrier for $11.00 for the Frau. Sometimes `Luck` smiles on me and other times he turns his back!Robert

[lightman]

[QUOTE=LenH;4432817]

Yeah I have to sometimes bite my tongue on inscribed pieces to not ask is that the price if my name or initials are the same? Or do you expect me to pay that much of a mug that is inscribed "Susan Smith 1983" since the mustache should be first clue my name isn't Susan.

I have sold some pewter to local antique places when the wholesale price exceeds the value of the pewter. I don't really want to do retail sales but if 10# of pewter is "worth" at best $80 as tin and a local shop will give me $120 as pewter items I'm going to take the $120. The hassle comes in when I look up prices to make sure I'm not selling something of real value too cheap. I kept a couple of plates that are from late 1700's or early 1800's based on style and trace of makers mark. Not super valuable but lasted this long so.... I also kept a mug with a whistle built into the handle and anything my wife likes. There was a small trophy cup from Scotland 1942 that I won't melt. I'm actually trying to find out what it was for.

And same here I'll buy it even if not a "great" deal as long as I know it is pewter and the price is less than market price by a bit. I don't consider $4 per pound for something that sells for $7 or $8 a pound to be horrible waste of money.

Roger, I'm kind of into beer. Craft and home-brew type stuff that is. Anyway, I understand that that mug that you have with the whistle is where the saying "wet you whistle" comes from.

[woodbutcher]

:lol: Hi Hardcast.What`s that old saying?Oh yeah"Sometimes you`re the bug,sometimes you`re the windshield".
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[LenH]

I went to yard sales with my wife on Saturday. We came across an estate sale, it was a total bust no pewter to be found in all that junk.
I did find a tankard at a yard sale we had intended to go to for $2. My wife starts to negotiate with the woman (one thing that she is excellent in doing)
and got it for a dollar. It was mid morning and I think the lady was ready to pack it in and get rid of whatever else she could.

[RogerDat]

Have to watch out for the candlesticks with "weighted" stamped on them or a flat base with the sides of the base rolled over the bottom. Full of petrified yak dung or some such to give it enough weight to not tip over. The pewter is just a thin sheet metal wrap around the filling. Filling is probably some sort of glue, and lord help you if you don't get it all dug out of the pewter before melting it down. Once it melts it gets all over everything and is brutal to clean up.

Yep putting your mouth on the handle was "wetting your whistle" and blowing the whistle was summoning your waitress for another beer/ale/stout etc. Mug would have to be empty on mine. The mouthpiece points down off the bottom of the handle.

[William Yanda]

That wall sconce is nice...I found several of them...almost 1.5 each for me. I don't see it as anything but pewter...so I just melt it all. I'm not in it for the resale business....its generally not worth my time. (however, that $4.90 mug you sold for $80 could make me rethink that...it was a beautiful mug for sure).

redhawk

Rarely do pewter objects bring more than scrap price. I did buy 6, 11 inch International Pewter plates from a thrift shop. Sold them to a lady in CA for over $100.
Bill

[kevin c]

Yep putting your mouth on the handle was "wetting your whistle" and blowing the whistle was summoning your waitress for another beer/ale/stout etc. Mug would have to be empty on mine. The mouthpiece points down off the bottom of the handle.I guess that was the point:drinks:

[kevin c]

I did buy 6, 11 inch International Pewter plates from a thrift shop. Sold them to a lady in CA for over $100.
BillWhat I find funny are the aluminum alloy Wilton Armetale plates and stuff that we are so eager to buy but find aren't pewter at all, and that we later congratulate ourselves on recognizing and passing up in thrifts and estate sales. It turns out that some of that stuff (not the "Give us this day our daily bread" plates) is worth something to collectors. That being said, I still don't buy them; I'll let others take the time to research, buy and profit on selling them while I concentrate on my hunt for tin.

[Nose Dive]

ROGERDAT is correct on candle sticks. They need to be 'opened' and checked for 'weighted' items and 'stuff' in the base.

This 'weighted' stuff can really be problematic in the smelt pot if one does not know it is there. (ask me how I know)....