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Did you know that the bell-shaped cone at the end of a long handle that you use to put out your candles isn’t really a snuffer? Colloquially, we refer to anything that puts out candles now as a snuffer, but in fact the tool we know as a snuffer is actually an “extinguisher” or candle “douter.”

“In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” The reason the holiday is called Columbus Day is because he was the captain on one of the ships – the Santa Maria – and technically the first person to set foot on the New World and claimed it for the global superpower then, the Spain.

Pewter was first used around the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Near East. The earliest piece of pewter found is from an Egyptian tomb from 1450 BC. Pewter was used in the ancient world by the Egyptians and later the Romans, and came into extensive use in Europe from the Middle Ages until the various developments in pottery and glass-making during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Mothers and fathers know that each milestone a child crosses is one to be remembered and treasured. Baby books and calendars are good ways to track those milestones, but once your child reaches a certain age those trackers become outdated and you need to find other ways to mark their milestones. For boys, trophies and photographs may be ways to replace those baby books. For girls, a lovely charm bracelet is a wonderful way to mark each milestone.

Pewter is commonly used to prepare ornaments and other jewelry items and is very popular with millions of people from across the globe. The main ingredient in pewter is tin, which is a very soft metal that makes jewelry made from pewter relatively soft as well. However they are easy to maintain and with little care can be made to last for several years.

Pewter is a remarkable metal. Having been sought after by humankind at least since a century or three before the sandals of Jesus himself were slapping the dusty paths of the Holy Land, pewter was at one time a financially valuable metal. Now, although pewter is no longer as costly as it once was, it is still loved around the globe for the same reasons it has always been: it is soft, malleable and perfect for carving, hammering, tapping, and shaping.

Whether you are expecting guests for a long-planned dinner or even for an impromptu dinner over the weekend, an important component that is sure to impress guests and family members is a well-planned dining table.

Some of us might remember the late-night commercials for a Civil War chess set where all the pieces were made from pewter. The commercials were very well done professionally and gave the impression that pewter was truly a special material.

Oil lamps have evolved right alongside mankind as the both of us have explored the world, built empires, watched them crumble, and seeked out new lands.

Pewter is one of the best materials to create some wonderful custom pieces that will remain with you or your family and friends forever.

Hampshire Pewter launches new website.