FOR THE COLLECTOR OF PEWTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 107, 27 July 1927, Page 4

FOR THE COLLECTOR OF PEWTER

(By an Expert.) Old pewter is both interesting to collect and cheap; well within the reach of the average purse. Pewter is worth collecting because it is growing rarer, although it was once so common. When pewter became unpopular it was melted down for bullets and sold cheaply as worthless. Consequently pewter is rising in valie to-day. Pewter belongs to the past. When the invention of cheap meials was accomplished, the manufacture of pewter was abandoned. The collecting of pewter is not so easy as that of silver; the marks are not always easily to be distinguished, owing to much cleaning and the softness of the metal. Pewter is made of tin and lead, with traces of other metals. In colour, it is subdued: between silver and lead. It is softly smooth to the touch; possesses its own “sheen”; dulls easily; oxidises little, and wears ou: more quickly than harder metals. Much of the best pewter was not decorated. Pewter decoration consists of ‘engraving,” “embossing,'’ and “stamping.” The most skilful embossed work was made in Holland or Germany, where the workmen were extremely clever. When buying pewter it is well to remember several things. The first is that the older the pewter, the simpler the piece. Scotch plates are usually deeper than those mad in England. Seventeenth century plates had wide edges and were nearly flat. Some plates stood on feet. Most domestic utensils were made in pewter, from pots and jugs, to snuff boxes and shoe buckles. Mugs, dishes, flagons and plates are most commonly met with to-day. Pewter is not often counterfeited, for the simple reason that prevailing prices are not sufficiently high. It is more commonly "beautified,’’ which

means that plain pewter has been ornamented. Pewter, like other antiques, is worth what you can sell it for! At present, sixteenth century pewter fetches the highest prices. Ornamentation increases the price value. It is not wise to try to repair old pewter. It should always be handled with care, for it is sometimes so brittle that to attempt to hammer out dents is to ask for trouble.

Specimens in museums are not usually cleaned, but some people prefer to polish their pewter, while others, when it is not to be handled, like to coat it with vaseline.

Pewter surface stains may be removed by boiling in a weak solution of soda. To clean pewter, you can safely use hot water with a little borax, a brush and soap, finally polishing with a chamois leather. This season the various phases of the cape attain a most becoming gracefulness. The new style—the capecoat—is especially attractive, as well as more comfortable and practical than the cape per se, which is just a little “fly-away” for smart daytime wear. One of the prettiest examples of t» e wrap in this genre is a black geoy* gette model—a great favourite both :n London and Paris. The georgette i* of the very finest quality, and the coat part is of double material. The cape, on the other hand, is left transparent and is edged down the fronts witn silken petals, en suite with the revers of the coat. The back of the cape has a long, slim effect, the edges being sufficiently weighted with a narrow piping of the fabric. A tablespoon of milk put into the water in which old potatoes are bone® will keep them from turning dark.