Originally Posted by
versifier
The most common things that get confused with pewter are zinc and aluminum. The amounts of copper and/or silver in the pewter are so small that they don't have any real effect. I've used up lots of damaged pewter as a tin source, never had a problem, and I have a stash of pewter ingots. The best way to tell what it is: see what it takes to melt it. If you've passed 800* and it's still solid, it's aluminim or zinc. Like pewter, aluminum is very soft and scratches easily, zinc is not and doesn't. If it's fairly old pewter, it may have a good percentage of lead in it, in which case it will leave a line on a sheet of white paper. I have never seen or heard of plated pewter, but who knows what's out there. Silver is often plated over copper onto a brass base though.