German Wine Decanter - BMF Pewter

Moving away from beer this weekend let's take a look at a wine artifact. One of my earliest collecting interests was steins, mugs, coffee mugs, ceramic ware, etc. I can't explain why these things caught my eye from so early on but there you have it. Now I've got a collection that dates back to my teen years with examples from several countries. Here's a memento from Good Ol' Deutschland, a pewter wine decanter from the German firm of BMF that we bought at Globus. It's 95% Zinn (pewter). Now seems like a good time to explain what pewter is, so I'll let Wikipedia do it:

"Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and sometimes, less commonly today, lead. Silver is also sometimes used. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C (338–446 °F), depending on the exact mixture of metals. The word pewter is probably a variation of the word spelter, a term for zinc alloys (originally a colloquial name for zinc)"

I love the detailing on this and the old world charm it exudes. And now it's also a reminder of those beautiful drives along the Deutsche Weinstraße (German Wine Route) or the Mosel River, stopping at a castle or taking a break at a Gasstatte. Being pewter though it's soft and a drop to the floor could give it a nice dent but we've been careful with it - so far! Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Marked "BMF ZINN 95%"