Second find - about 6.8 ounces if I remember right. I gave $3 for it.
Don't know about this oil lamp. No hallmark but it sure is soft. Bends easily and doesn't spring back. Scratches easily with a knife or key. Feels softer than the other stuff. Wondering if it might have some lead in it. Will try the dipping into molten pewter at liquidus and see. It's 15.25 ounces but has a threaded brass insert at the top - no more than an ounce I hope. Think I gave $6 for it. The salt and pepper shakers are silver - lesson learned. Should have known better by the color.
Found this candlestick holder on the way home at a thrift store. $3 for 5.95 ounces. Not weighted. So far I'm paying $7 - $8 a pound if the oil lamp is pewter. Beats the heck out of virgin metal price.
Thanks again for all the information here that has helped me learn something and save money.
I guess this post of mine on the previous page (#1645) is too old to edit.
I just wanted to add that I finally got around to melting these down today, and discovered that the space between the double walls was lined with a sheet of cork. The bottom was the same.
I guess when I drilled through the side the cork bits fell into the space the liner was sitting in, as I did not see anything except metal coming out of the flutes of the drill bit. I couldn’t see the liner looking through the hole.
I fished most of it out of the pot, as it didn’t burn well. The rest joined the pine sawdust as flux.
if made in italy, and bears the inscription peltro underneath, it's ok
Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
Rob
I've had Italian "peltro" items that weren't pewter. It was cast with a visible seam inside and out with the "peltro" straddling the seam. The items looked like a thinner, smother version of Wilton ware. It had little to no deflection or dents like regular pewter items.
...I'm sorry: evidently I was luckier, because every old "peltro" marked stuff melted without the slightest problem and in my hands now I have what is really tin,
but today I do not exclude the possibility of fraud in this sector as well...
out of my curiosity, have you tried to cut it or melt it?
Last edited by wilecoyote; 12-23-2022 at 01:26 AM.
Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
Rob
It cracks instead of dents and wouldn't melt at 450°F like all the other food service pewter. I have gotten "peltro" items that looked and melted like typical pewter. The "peltro" was the usual touchmark stamped in the surface.
While rare, it does happen that properly marked pewter isn’t. It happened to me with a beaded angel mark. See post 396.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post2863730
I will also note that jsizemore is a collector of long experience and has sold quite a bit as well. He certainly knows what is and isn’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
The stuff that had the "peltro" cast in the surface with seam were a set of liquid standards. Looked like a mug/stein. The look and seam told me it wasn't the usual pewter. I figured it had a bit of lead since it was a darker gray color. The walls were thin so I figured that explained the lighter then usual weight. Italy has a large migrant population that lends itself to all kinds of metalworking so I figured it was just different. Ultimately the "peltro" sold me. 6-7 years later they lay under the pine tree behind the shed under pine straw and have hardly changed appearance except for some small patches of white corrosion. Trying to bend them with my hand wasn't quite as bad as zinc but close.
Wow... I need to look around my area. I doubt I find much since I'm so late to the party. But I have been wanting to try adding some tin to my pot to see if it really affects my bullets that much. Love the hunt and search for stuff though
You don’t need to find a ton the first week. Find a mug and you can sweeten 20 pounds of alloy. A plate and you have some on the shelf for next time. Just always be on the lookout and you will stumble over it.
”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
Hello all, first real post. Was camping New years weekend in the cold mid ohio. Looked at wife and said let's go looking for Pewter. To my surprise she said yes. Off we go. First store 15 min from campground all excited. One piece of pewter about an once for $15, not for me. Next place nothing.
Third place wife tries to get me to buy an antique grade tea set for $150. No way. I tell her only junk grade and cheap. We get 2 platters and a old leaded pewter vase for $25. Turns out one was a Wilton, nooooo. Ended with 3 lbs 10 oz. Real pewter. New rule never leave phone in truck.
Friday got off early so why not look. Picked 1 lbs 5oz linotype $5, vase $1, tankard $1, and vase $1. 36 oz pewter $3 best find so far.
Chuck S.
Congratulations on getting your feet wet! You now have enough to sweeten over 200 pounds of lead. For most of us, that gives plenty of time to find the next score!
”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
Sounds like decent pickings out your way. Good hunting!
Just lucky I guess. Couple other places way overpriced.
Chuck S.
Stopped into a goodwill while I was out of town. $1.15 for a 5" plate of some sort. Would have been twice the price but Thursday's are blue stripe 50% off. Added it to the 7lbs from a friends junk collection.
Lady asked "now what are you going to do with that?" Melt it down for bullet casting. oh ok.
If the salt and pepper are Quadruplate, no worries, that is pewter too.
Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
"I don't have hobbies - I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set"
I may be discharged and retired but I'm sure I did not renounce the oath that I solemnly swore!
Estate sale find, $1 each.
Only had 5 of the 12 days of Christmas.
2.5 pounds worth.
Decorative or functional? I haven’t run across pewter bells before.
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 |