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Thread: Is it pewter?

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Is it pewter?

    I was in a thrift store yesterday and picked up a big platter. On the back it was stamped RWP with Wilton below it. Is it pewter?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Does it scratch easily with a key?

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
    CastingFool's Avatar
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    There is such a thing as RWP Wilton pewter. Do a quick search on line. Wilton does use other metals to make their products.

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    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
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    Tin will "Cry" when you bend it. If it is Pewter and is mostly Tin, it should Cry.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Master Castaway's Avatar
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    Don’t use a key, a fingernail will scratch pewter

  6. #6
    Boolit Master

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    RWP or Wilton, that is usually aluminum! Tap it, it should “ring”, true pewter has a “dead” ring to it. Just my experience
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    If it's Alum.-- that happened to me too.
    I found a big round platter for 25 cents and thought I'd struck gold.
    Upon further inspection---- Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory!
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  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    No, RWP don’t make pewter items. It’s a bunch of alloys mixed. If you saved your receipt may they will give you a credit for future purchases. My good will’s do that here. I remember that was one of the first items I bought when I was buying pewter and didn’t know what I was doing. You can take a good handheld butane torch and hold it on there forever and it won’t melt.lol. If it doesn’t say pewter on it I don’t buy it. And if it’s not dinnerware items I don’t buy it. Picture frames and knickknacks are mostly lead.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master

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    The first post in the sticky thread says Wilton items aren’t pewter.
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

    My Straight Shooters thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raight-shooter

    The Pewter Pictures and Hallmarks thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-and-hallmarks

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    RWP means Real Wilton Pewter which IS NOT REAL PEWTER.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    If you bought that platter, then just chalk one up to experience.

    And you might check it for the following, which will help save you the next time from unmarked Wilton-like goods made from similar stuff:

    Thicker, much more rigid, and considerably lighter for the amount of metal used than real pewter ware. The gray color doesn’t quite match that of pewter, and it doesn’t warm up in the hand like tin does.

    Harder (real pewter scratches more easily), no tin cry (though this is hard to test since the aluminum is so stiff), and won’t melt at temps or in flames that would do in tin (though this is a post purchase test; like Tripplebeards said, some folks run a butane torch over one spot - if it melts they keep it, if not some return it - never done this myself).

    Wilton and other aluminum based pseudo pewter often has pits and porosities as well as a visible casting line that pewter metal doesn’t have in the first two cases, and, in the third case, would have polished out if cast (much pewter ware is formed by lathe turning and shaping). That’s because while pewter used to be common, now it’s a mostly a premium material used in high value goods that need to be finished to a high standard, in contrast to the Wilton ware that caters to those who want to approximate the look of the real thing without paying for the material or workmanship.

    ETA: the other big offenders are those “Give us this day our daily bread” platters.
    Last edited by kevin c; 01-28-2023 at 04:22 AM.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master


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    Wilton is a known maker of "Pewteral", an aluminum alloy with no tin component. Let me guess, it is thick, and you will find a kind of orange peel appearing surface where it is not smooth.
    My guess, NOT pewter.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check