.52 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1908 



7A, 



Collecting of Old Pewter 



Treasured American Examples Are Being Brought to Light by Enthusiastic Collectors 



By Phebe Westcott Humphreys 



Illustrated by S. Walter Humphreys 



TRIP abroad was once considered a neces- 

 sity for the collector in quest of old pewter 

 if the best specimens of old manufacture 

 were to be secured. It is only recently that 

 the antiquarians of Uncle Sam's domain 

 have awakened to the fact that some of the 

 choicest examples of early pewters have 

 long been hidden away in the garrets of New England and 

 Pennsylvania, and other States; and their discovery has 

 brought to light many curious incidents of the early days 

 when it was the custom of industrious householders to manu- 

 facture pewter spoons and other small housekeeping utensils 

 as they were needed. This custom seems to have been very 

 general among the first settlers in various parts of the Amer- 

 ican colonies. 



The New England States offer a field especially attractive 

 to the collector of Colonial pewter, as this was a district 

 singularly rich in pewter making, the art of which appears to 

 have flourished in America as early as the first part of the 

 seventeenth century. It is claimed that in New England 

 there were numerous pewterers whose operations extended 



from a period previous to 1640 down to the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century. It was also in New England that 

 the Babbitt metal — which is considered a choice addition to 

 pewter collections — originated. Authorities state that the 

 manufacture of pewter in the United States in those early 

 days never approached the condition of a fine art. The pieces 

 produced were severely plain and undecorative. The usual 

 vessels were tankards, basins, porringers, bowls, plates, 

 chargers or circular platters, spoons, candlesticks. At a later 

 day, when pewter was replaced by Britannia ware and the 

 Babbitt metal, whole tea services were manufactured, often 

 in graceful shapes, but usually devoid of embellishment. The 

 latter composition was invented by Isaac Babbitt, of Taun- 

 ton, Mass., about 1825, and was almost identical with the 

 Britannia ware of England. While many examples of the 

 latter are still found in various old New England garrets, 

 and are treasured by collectors because its first manufacture 

 originated in this section, it is the genuine old pewter dating 

 back from the home manufacture, previous to 1640, that is 

 most frequently the object of the quest. 



The manufacture of household utensils of pewter was ex- 



Modem Bavarian Pewter Vase 



Pewter Lamp of Pompeiian Form 



Colonial Candlestick 



