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 thankfully 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 imagine this early pewter was filled with lead, but I haven’t heard much about the difficulties due to that.

Was pewter jewelry made in earlier times? I think it was, but due to the softness of the metal and the ease with which it could be melted down and used for other uses, it hasn’t survived that long. It is possible that the Celts made their famous knot designs in pewter.

But what about modern pewter jewelry and what would be its advantages over silver? Well here are some:

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 handcrafted look.

These are all good reasons. I would add to that the fact that pewter can be as detailed as the finest silver jewelry, and when cast and finished correctly, it is almost indistinguishable from it. That is, unless you look really hard. But if you’re just after the overall 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 uneasiness reported recently through newspapers and the Internet about pewter containing high lead content shipped to us by suppliers in China. I agree that it is something to pay attention to when buying pewter jewelry. You want to make sure the pewter comes from a reputable source and is lead-free. Such jewelry is available, and I would venture to guess that most jewelers who work with pewter jewelry are very careful about the lead content these days. Children are especially vulnerable, as they tend to mindlessly put things in their mouths.

But despite the fact that pewter jewelry has a questionable reputation in some circles, it seems to have regained its popularity. I’m glad, because not everyone can afford sterling silver jewelry, and this can be a wonderful substitute for many of us.