Before and after pictures of restored antique pewter by Cleveland Art Metals

Basics of pewter restoration

Pewter, Britannia metal and “white metal”, are alloys principally containing tin, with various additions of lead, antimony and/or copper. Pewter does not become work-hardened, so annealing is not necessary. Pewter is very soft, so it is easily shaped, easily dented and easily re-shaped, however over time, pewter will turn gray and eventually develop a hard crust of oxidation products. This crust on antique pewter is very brittle and will chip off if the underlying metal is dented or distorted. Depending on the thickness of the patina, or oxide layer, a dented pewter item can be safely reshaped without disturbing the patina. If a thick patina is disturbed it will take decades if not centuries to re-form, so it must be artificially filled in to disguise a disfiguring patch of bright metal. Patina restoration on pewter involves not only color, but texture and reflectivity.

Below are shown before and after pictures of several antique pewter objects restored by Cleveland Art Metals
Antique pewter candlesticks before restoration Antique pewter candlesticks after restoration by Mark Erdmann

Pictured above is a pair of 19th century pewter candlesticks, on the left is before restoration, on the right is after. The lefthand candlestick had an old poorly done solder job at the base of the stem which had to be removed and reconstructed. The righthand candlestick stem was loose from the base, and was missing its pushrod.

Detail of the antique pewter candlestick, old solder joint before restoration

Above left is the before picture of the old solder job that had to be removed before the joint could be reconstructed. The flared rim at the bottom of the stem had to be recreated out of pewter, before the stem was reattached to the base. Above right is the completed restoration.

Detail of dents in a 19th century pewter jug before restoration Detail of 19th century pewter jug after dent removal by Cleveland Art Metals

Above left is a 19th century pewter jug showing several large sharp dents. At the right, the jug is shown with the dents removed.

Detail, lid and hinge of 19th century pewter jug before restoration

Detail, lid and hinge of 19th century pewter jug before restoration

Detail, lid and hinge of 19th century pewter jug after restoration by Cleveland Art Metals

Above left is a detail of the hinge area before restoration, a split is visible on the left side, and several unsightly blobs of solder on the right side. The picture above right shows the completed restoration. The difference in the color of the pewter is due to lighting during photography.