Pewter is a wonderful metal with a long history. Modern pewter contains about 92% tin and added to this are small amounts of antimony, copper or bismuth to give additional strength. Some think of tin as being "cheap", when tin is in fact a precious and expensive metal. Tin has been mined and used for over 3000 years and is the 4th most precious metal in common usage after platinum, gold and silver.

Pewter was probably first made in the Bronze Age (between 2000 and 500 BC). Pewter and bronze are related alloys; pewter is mostly tin, with a small amount of copper, while bronze is made up primarily of copper, with a small amount of tin. By the middle ages the use of pewter in Europe was widespread. Around the 12th century, pewter was only within the reach of the wealthy, where it was to be found on the tables of castle halls and in the houses of rich merchants.