Pewter brand

Tin marks on an ashtray

A pewter stamp is a stamp imprinted by the manufacturer, occasionally also cast, on objects made of a pewter alloy . It provides information about the tin content of the alloy according to regional and temporally different standards, can designate the location and master workshop of manufacture and also contain a year.

The pewter mark is an extremely important tool for both dating and regional classification of pewter antiques . Its function corresponds to that of the silver brands or porcelain brands . Like these, tin stamps are also forged in order to make imitations appear as historical pieces of older age and thus as valuable antiques.

history

The metal used by the tin foundrymen always contained other alloy components , especially lead. Lead was cheaper, but reduced the optical and mechanical quality and, because of its toxic effects, the food grade of the products. That is why the oldest guild regulations for tin foundries (Zurich 1371, Hamburg 1375) also contain regulations about the degree of purity. There were no uniform regulations throughout the empire; all ordinances were valid for one territory, but mostly for the respective city, where they were drawn up by the guilds and approved by the council. Their validity also depends on the time and type of goods. The "Nürnberger Probe" ("sample" synonymous with "test"), acting as a model, required a ratio of a maximum of 1 part lead to 10 parts tin. In the early days, other cities demanded a mix of 12: 1 (Reval, Riga, Stettin 1534, Breslau 1399), 9: 1 (Freiburg 1511), 8: 1 (Lübeck 1633) or 6: 1 (Cologne). In the period that followed, the originally high standards were increasingly abandoned and the regulations downgraded or differentiated depending on the intended use of the vessels and their components.

Historical alloy names
designation	Components
Symbols and designations are not binding for all places and times. The values in this table only apply with some reservation.
Block tin	Tin without added lead, without added tin
Clear tin, CL, LZ	Very pure tin , like imported from England, not further alloyed
Crown tin	15 parts tin: 1 part lead
Fine pewter, fine ware, English pewter Reich sample, Nuremberg sample	9 or 10 parts of tin: 1 part of lead
English tin	z. T. also: 100 parts tin: 1 part copper
Very good	5 parts tin: 1 part lead
Semi-Good (Nuremberg)	5 parts tin: 1 part lead
Halbgut (North German)	2½ parts tin: 1 part lead
Deficiency	3 parts tin or less: 1 part lead

In order to mark the pewter goods as conforming to the regulations, they were marked ("marked") with stamps and punches . Similar to the silver brands, there were initially city and master brands, but not as consistently in pairs as there. Originally, the principle of control by specially appointed show masters applied. But soon the pewter founders were using their own city stamps, which were more or less similar for all local workshops. So it made sense to combine the master's initials with the city symbol to form a stamp image (Nuremberg, Augsburg, Bremen, Basel, Berlin, Cologne, etc.).
In certain cases (relief pewter from the 16th century, Art Nouveau pewter) the marks are not struck, but are also cast. Pewter marks are placed under the bottom or on the rim of plates, on the handle or in the lid of vessels, sometimes clearly visible, sometimes deliberately inconspicuous.

Years within the trademarks, often in two-digit form, can only be used to a limited extent (namely as terminus post quem ) for dating; they refer to the year of mastering or the issue of a certain purity regulation, not necessarily to the year of origin.

In many places, a three-mark system was common, with city or master’s marks being stamped twice, which usually denoted a better of several possible types. Or the state coat of arms was struck as the third stamp next to the location and master's mark (Württemberg 1559, Baden 1715).
The Latin number "X" (10) meant a ratio of 1:10 in Saxony, and the stamp "CL" was also used there as a designation for "clear and pure" tin. The crowned rose was widely used in Europe as a quality brand based on the English model. It can be traced back to the Tudor rose , with which tin bars exported from England were marked. The angel stamps alluding to the pewter's country of origin are also often combined with the initials of the master and, since around 1800, with his full name. In the first half of the 19th century, the pewter- making trade lost its importance, the guilds were sacrificed to the freedom of trade , and so the brands lost their meaning. The decades around 1900 brought with Art Nouveau an upswing in handicrafts and a brief re-bloom of artistically designed pewter tools in a few larger workshops and factories. Their brands stand for quality of form rather than purity of materials. There follows a final decline in tin production into artistically irrelevant decorative items and style copies. Trademarks attached to these no longer have any guarantee or control function, even if they take up historical trademark motifs.

See also : Mintmaster's mark . - With his mark, the mint master assumed the guarantee that his mint was properly issued.

literature

Hanns Ulrich Haedeke: Zinn , 1963, pp. 37–48

The German pewter brands are only published very incompletely. Beyond the Hintze brand catalogs, there are few regional and local directories.

Lübeck pewter marks from JG Hütting: city stamp, master's mark, angel mark. After 1802

Erwin Hintze : The German tin foundry . Hiersemann, Leipzig 1921–1931,
- Vol. 1 / Saxon tin foundry . Neudr. D. Edition 1921. - Aalen: Zeller, 1964.
- Vol. 2 / Nuremberg pewter caster , with 341 illustrations of pewter brands. [Fotomechan.] New publisher of the edition [Leipzig, Hiersemann], 1921. - Aalen: Zeller, 1964.
- Vol. 4 / Silesian pewter foundry , with 1164 illustrations of pewter brands. [Fotomechan.] New publisher of the edition [Leipzig, Hiersemann], 1926. - Aalen: Zeller, 1964.

Theodor Kohlmann : Tin foundry and tin equipment in Oldenburg, Ostfriesland and Osnabrück , Göttingen 1972 pp. 185–364.

Johs. Warncke: Die Zinngießer zu Lübeck , Lübeck 1922, pp. 89-101, 125-218.

Howard Herschel Cotterell: Old Pewter. Its Makers and Marks , London 1929.

Philippe Boucaud: Zinn , Friborg 1978, pp. 269–328.

Dagmar Stará: Pewter brands from all over the world , translated from the Czech by Kurt Lauscher, Hanau / M. 1987.

Margarete Pieper-Lippe, Karl-Heinz Husmann (Ed.): Zinn in Westfalen , Vol. III, Münster 1988 (with trademark register for volumes I-III)