Pewter Repairs

Are you in the United States? Unfortunately due to customs & shipping issues I don't repair items form the US.  Suggest you contact: Jon Gibson, Gibsonpewter.com or Wayne Hilt, hiltpewter.com (primarily restoration on period pieces).

Do you have a valued piece that is damaged?

Pewter is a soft metal that can be melted or dented if you are not careful. Many people discover this the hard way, when they damage their pewter objects. However, I can fix almost any damaged item, be it dented, scratched, melted or bent. Often, the piece will be as good as new. With severely damaged items the restoration may be noticeable, but will still be a significant improvement on a valued piece. 

Dents can be pushed out. Parts that have broken off can be soldered back on. Melted pieces can be reconstructed. Although the repair will use new metal, it can be aged using a careful acid treatment to match the older metal of the original piece. I can also fix leaky beer mugs or replace broken glass bottoms. However, I recommend only repairing good quality mugs. Repairing inexpensive mugs is usually not worth the cost of the repair.  In the gallery below there is a baby mug which was found buried in a garden. I restored it and it was returned to the original recipient for her 80th birthday.

I can give you a free estimate on the cost of repairs or restoration. I charge $40/hour.  Shipping is expensive and may cost more than the repair. You can calculate it in the postal service web site and double it.  Try a good local jewellery store first as they may have a repair source closer than me.  Please email me or phone to discuss the problem prior to sending me anything.  Attaching a picture of the problem to the email will be helpful.

Because pewter is such a soft, low-melting alloy, effective repairs do require skill and knowledge of the metal’s properties. Often repairs come to me after someone else has tried to fix the pieces themselves and have made the problem worse. I can almost guarantee that you will melt the pewter if you try to use a soldering iron. And please don’t use epoxy to glue the broken parts. It often takes me as long to remove the epoxy for a proper fix as it does to repair the item.

The gallery below shows some of my more interesting repairs.