Plate Pewter: Tin with Antimony, Bismuth and Copper, Ure 1839

Pewter is mostly tin, made harder with a little of other metals. Andrew Ure (1839) gives the best English plate pewter, the hardest grade, used for plates and dishes, as 100 tin, 8 antimony, 2 bismuth and 2 copper: no lead, which he warns can poison vinegar and wine kept in cheaper pewter. The picture: a small pewter ingot recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.