GermanMart.com. is proud to present a wide variety of pewter crafts. Pewter was a well known material used for many different items, especially tableware, during the medieval era in Europe. Today pewter is a material also used for artwork. Stemware as well as fine sculptures and figurines cast out of pewter can be found in our store. Our collection includes many items from famous artisans like Rawcliffe and others. Visit our pewter corner to find medieval art representing pewter dragon, pewter goblet, wizards, figurines, fantasy castles and many other items.

A little history

The first known record of a pewter article was the discovery of a bottle in an Egyptian tomb believed to date back to l45OBC. It is a flask shaped utensil with hinged lid and two handles, and when analyzed was found to be comparable with early 19th century pewter. Pewter was introduced into Britain around the 2nd century A.D. by the Romans, but it wasn't until the 13th century that significant production began. By then, pewter was beginning to be widely used for items such as drinking vessels (goblet, chalice), pilgrim badges and other ecclesiastical items. From the fourteenth century on, pewter manufacture grew rapidly and almost every market town of any size would have a pewterer in its craft guild. In 1474 the London Pewterers 'purchased' from King Edward IV a royal charter for the legal control of pewter manufacture - the birth of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers, which is still going strong to this day.

In these early times pewter contained lead which gave the metal the dark appearance associated with old pieces. Today's lead free pewter is capable of being brightly polished which gives it its long lasting appeal. Further developments took place and by the seventeenth century there was scarcely a household in Britain that did not possess some items of pewter; plates, bowls, candlesticks, buttons - everyday items. Tableware and hollow ware accounted for the majority of pewter manufacture from then until the late nineteenth an twentieth centuries when other materials took over the role of pewter. It seems strange that now only the tankard and Spirit Flask are the major items of pewter in production, although in recent years there has been a noticeable trend in development of products away from these.

Manufacturing

Pewter ware manufacture can be divided into two categories - cast and spun. Manufacture is commenced from a variety of sizes of sheet, circles or special blanks, and craftsmen are employed in five main areas in the manufacturing process.

Metal Smithing
This is where the component parts are soldered together, e.g. the handle to the tankard. Temperature is critical - if it is too cool the solder will not flow, too hot then the product itself will melt.

Spinning
Here the metal is placed in a lathe and spun very quickly. Using a variety of tools, the craftsman moves the metal into the shape required over a form called a chuck.

Buffing
By applying to the product on a rotating mop a mixture of oil and an abrasive powder, similar to pumice, solder lines and abrasions can be smoothed away giving the product a one-piece look.

Polishing
This operation of applying via a rotating cotton mop a polishing compound gives the product its lustrous, long lasting appearance.

Casting
Using a wide variety of metal or rubber moulds we can produce items such as handles, badges and figures. Today, modeling figures out of pewter is a renowned art form.