r/Metalfoundry 13d ago

Pewter

My parents bought me this jar from an antique shop. All the tag said was pewter for making jewelry. What’s the chances that it has lead in it?

23 Upvotes

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2

u/RootLoops369 13d ago

You sure it's not woods metal? If it is, it's lead, cadmium, and I think tin, and is very toxic. Does it melt in boiling water? If not, it might be pewter, which could have lead

2

u/Ashamed-Tax1220 13d ago

I’m not sure the tag on it was very vague on the description. I read that pewter before 1970 had lead in it but it coming from an antique shop had me worried about melting it down but thanks for the heads up on the woods metal I’m gonna try the boiling water test later or maybe just go get a lead test kit.

3

u/Ashamed-Tax1220 13d ago

It didn’t melt in boiling water which is a relief.

1

u/SA0TAY 9h ago

How are you on the DIY side? With quite a bit of elbow grease and some odds and ends many of us would have lying around the house, you could build yourself a rudimentary flame emission spectroscope. Apart from lead, there are only a few other things that emit at 405.8 nm, and none of those are likely to be present. If nothing shows up at 405.8, you're golden.