Identifying & Valuing Vintage Pewter Broaches: A Guide

Question
Bill & Sally,  Recently I received a broach that was in my Mothers estate.  It appears to be made of pewter or some other metal that doesn't have much of a shine to it.  It is a flower that appears to me made of strands of metal in a filigree pattern.  Do you think it is old?  Did they use to make jewelry out ot pewter?  If you think it is even worth looking into I can send a picture.  Thank you for your help.  Kathy

Answer
Hello Kathy and thank you for your inquiry. Pewter has always been used for jewelry and it is sometimes marked "Pewter". Without a hands-on inspection of the item, I would not be able to tell much about it, but you can search online for vintage pewter jewelry by using your browser "search". You may find something similar. There are also books on pewter jewelry that you may find available at your local library or book store. Amazon.com online has a good selection of jewelry books. I have listed a url below that has a selection of pewter jewelry at auction. Just copy and paste it into your browser address field and hit enter -

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProp...

The countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden have had some famous pewter jewelry makers. If you piece has any hallmarks you may be able to search for them online at

http://www.925-1000.com/foreign_marks.html

Hope this helps and good luck !