Pewter jewelry has grown in popularity as the price of silver jewelry has risen. They look slightly similar at first glance.
Pewter is primarily tin, a soft metal. It is alloyed in jewelry and other uses with antimony or bismuth, hard and brittle metals. Earlier pewter manufacturing used lead as one of the alloys, but luckily this practice is becoming rare, at least in the US.
In earlier times, people ate with pewter utensils. Plates and cups in the Middle Ages through the 18th and 19th centuries were mostly pewter, before porcelain became popular. I would imagine this early pewter was filled with lead, but I haven’t heard much of the difficulties due to that.
Was pewter jewelry made in earlier times? I think it was, but because of the softness of the metal and the ease with which it could be melted down and used for other uses, it hasn’t survived as long. The Celts may have made their famous knot designs in pewter.
But what about modern pewter jewelry and what would be its advantages over silver? Well here are a few:
o It is less expensive than sterling silver
o Less likely to tarnish (especially pewter that does not contain lead)
o It has a warm and handmade look.
All these are good reasons. I would add to that the fact that pewter can be as detailed as the finest silver jewelry, and when properly cast and finished, is almost indistinguishable from it. That is, unless you look real hard. But if you’re just going for the general silver look, and you’re not a jewelry snob, why not buy and wear some pewter jewelry, too?
Some people may have a hard time getting over the upset recently reported through newspapers and the internet about pewter containing a high lead content shipped to us from suppliers in China. I agree that it is something to look out for when buying pewter jewelry. You want to make sure that your pewter comes from a reputable source and is lead-free. Such jewelry is readily available, and I would venture to guess that most jewelers who work with pewter jewelry are very careful about lead content these days. Children are especially vulnerable, as they tend to put things in their mouths without thinking.
But despite the fact that pewter jewelry has a questionable reputation in some circles, it seems to have regained popularity. I’m glad, because not everyone can afford sterling silver jewelry, and this can be a wonderful substitute for many of us.