Pewter pictures and hallmarks...

[jsizemore]

scrap yard gun would tell you exactly what you have, they detect a wide range of elements and the percentage of each in the sample. Assuming that they will test your metal as a favor. I melt a bunch of similar stuff such as my pewter, scrap roll solder, or same hardness lead scrap in separate batches and just ask them to gun a representative ingot. I think they might get annoyed if you bring in a piece at a time.

I have a candle holder not melted yet, does not clearly say pewter, broke my rule this time, hope I did not waste the $1. If you squint at it's hallmark just right it could be the one on the plate absent much wear and battering. I leave it to the viewer to decide if it is a match.
Attachment 119265

Woodberry Pewterers

[RogerDat]

Woodberry Pewterers

You nailed it. Looked up the image for Woodberry Pewter hallmarks and that is it. Now Konsole has to decide if the remains of a hallmark on that dish originally looks enough like the candle stick hallmark. Before plate bottom became so battered and worn. I think I can see bars as are on the shield and some sweeping lines that could have been the bird wings, maybe some lines trailing toward the bottom that could be the same but it is pretty worn.

I know once in the pot it will all look like a shiny puddle.

[imashooter2]

You nailed it. Looked up the image for Woodberry Pewter hallmarks and that is it. Now Konsole has to decide if the remains of a hallmark on that dish originally looks enough like the candle stick hallmark. Before plate bottom became so battered and worn. I think I can see bars as are on the shield and some sweeping lines that could have been the bird wings, maybe some lines trailing toward the bottom that could be the same but it is pretty worn.

I know once in the pot it will all look like a shiny puddle.

1st page, 1st post.

Doesn't look like a match to me, but I still think there is an X in there.

[RogerDat]

Since I have egg on my face I need to go give my mustache wash.
I need to go through and save all those hallmark pictures, lot of good information in the text but I need a visual cheat sheet.

[jsizemore]

You nailed it. Looked up the image for Woodberry Pewter hallmarks and that is it. Now Konsole has to decide if the remains of a hallmark on that dish originally looks enough like the candle stick hallmark. Before plate bottom became so battered and worn. I think I can see bars as are on the shield and some sweeping lines that could have been the bird wings, maybe some lines trailing toward the bottom that could be the same but it is pretty worn.

I know once in the pot it will all look like a shiny puddle.

Konsole is barking up the wrong tree. Without a reasonably distinguished hallmark he has pewter alloy and nothing else. There is nothing about the piece that sets it apart from a standard production piece. Nobody will give you collector value for scrap. I'm like imashooter2 and use those pieces to enrich my personal alloy.

[konsole]

I may have found out what this piece is called. It may be a "bean bowl"

Here is a top down view of a bean bowl being listed as lead-free pewter on the left, with a top down view of mine on the right...


Here is where its listed...
http://www.simplertime.com/shop/Scri...idproduct=1234

Still no matching hallmark, but does it look like the same bowl to anyone else?

That could be the same bowl but theres no sense in messing with a piece of uncertain alloy when I can return it at the store I plan on stopping at tomorrow anyways.

[RogerDat]

I don't understand, if the choice is return it or melt it why return it without trying to melt it first? If it melts rapidly at correct temp it is high tin alloy. Keep it. If it sits there in the pot waiting to get to 600 degrees it is not so then return it. Sitting on the heat enough to figure out which it is won't hurt it any.

Even if you can't sell it as hallmarked pewter but it melts as tin you can throw it in your next batch of WW's as a "bonus" just to make them cast better.

[konsole]

Trying to partially melt a piece and pulling it back out cleanly when you realize its not melting can be tough. The molten metal in the pot solidifies on the piece and doesnt always come off easily.

I sell my lead and pewter ingots I dont cast bullets with them. Melting the bowl into a big pot of WW lead would make the 8.8-oz bowl become only worth $0.50 since lead is only $1 per #, and I paid a fair amount more then $0.50 for the bowl. I can't melt it into the pewter ingots I sell because I don't know if it has any lead. Returning it made sense because I had to donate a bunch of clothes at that store anyways. I just got back from that store, and after dropping off the clothes and returning the bowl, I was able to find 2 more hallmarked pieces.

[Twmaster]

Well I've finally scored some pewter at a couple of thrift stores today. While what I got was not awesome deal wise I did manage to get 1 pound, 5 ounces for the cost $4.49 per pound. Beats $10 ingots or $17 new per pound!

One tea pot made in holland with a giant dent in the bottom and one was a WEB Pewter Weighted candlestick. Pewter weight taken after the fossilized llama poo was removed from the base.

I'll be checking more thrifts and hitting yard sales tomorrow as I'm off work!

[Recruit]

Nice find Twmaster! I believe $3-$5 per pound is mentioned in this thread somewhere so you're right in there. It's a bit exciting finding your first pewter...thinking "how in the world did no one else pick this up yet...do they not know what this really is?"

[Twmaster]

And a little better score today. I nice big serving tray of some sort. 1# 6.25 oz. At $2.07 it was a steal. It bears a hallmark I've not yet seen in this thread.






And a teapot I picked up last night. Dented junk. Perfect for a melt. It bears a common hallmark from Holland posted here a few times.

[imashooter2]

And a little better score today. I nice big serving tray of some sort. 1# 6.25 oz. At $2.07 it was a steal. It bears a hallmark I've not yet seen in this thread.

Looks like a variation of the Poole mark that I haven't seen before. Thanks for the addition!

[Twmaster]

Happy to help add to the knowledge base. After all this site has given so much to me too!

Picked up another little 7 ounce serving dish ($1 at a yard sale). It's already bent a bit so I don't feel bad sending this to melt. It's marked 'web pewter' so I won't bother with a hallmark pic (unless demanded!). I'll post a pic of the dish if anybody really needs me to.

How are most of you going about making your larger pieces bite sized for your melting pots? (Or are you guys using giant pots? )

[Old Ranger]

I use side cutters to remove handles from tankards etc. Then a hammer to flatten them out, make smaller etc. I do my pewter melting in a 20lb Lee production pot. Hammer can make almost anything fit.

[Beagle333]

I use the small stainless steel condiment cups from WalMart. If I fill one about 1/4 of the way, it makes a beautiful little wafer about the size of a standard Oreo. Then I weigh each one and mark the weight with a Sharpie. You can do the same with Lee or Lyman ingot molds though, if you don't fill them all the way. It just makes a longer thin strip rather than the wafer method. I don't always make ingots. Sometimes I just weigh the pewter pitcher, plate or mug before, then dip a corner of it in the lead pot with my alloy until some of it melts away and weigh it again until it is missing the weight that I wanted in the pot. It's not as easy as adding a small ingot... but it works without having to smelt anything.

[Twmaster]

Beagle, just out of curiosity how heavy is one of your Oreo sized ingots?

And thanks for the tips!

[Beagle333]

I usually aim for 5 ounces. That makes the math easier when adding partial ingots. I bought some one time that a fellow had cast some long thin ingots into precisely even numbers of ounces and had marked it in 1 oz segments. That was handy! It wouldn't take much practice to get that skill...... but I'm usually lazy about it and just melt off what I need.

[imashooter2]

How are most of you going about making your larger pieces bite sized for your melting pots? (Or are you guys using giant pots? )

I've done well over 400 pounds in the last year and a half. The best tools for getting pewter ready for the pot are a bench vise and a 3 pound drilling hammer. Grab the handles and / or spouts in the vise and twist them off. Then use the hammer to crush the body into a small diameter tube as required. Then feed the long pieces into the pot as they melt. Too much effort trying to make it into small pieces.

[Twmaster]

The teapot will succumb to the hammer. However that thick heavy serving dish I show in post #611 is thick and hard.... Even though it has that hallmark... I'm really thinking a Sawzall will be needed for that booger.

[imashooter2]

Put a couple inches into the vise. Fold it over, hammer it flat. Repeat.