Spelter is an interesting alloy. It originated at least in the
1800s and was used to create clocks, lamps, statues, etc., which are
highly collectibletoday (a recent eBay search yielded 583 items
priced over $250, some priced much higher).
Spelter is called by a variety of names, French Bronze (because it
can be made to look exactly like bronze), white metal, pot metal,
even junk metal. One thing is for sure though, you can’t work it the
same way as other metal alloys. It is brittle, castings are often
very thin – making it easily broken – and it melts at fairly low
temperatures. But the combination of being hard to work, fragile,
old and highly collectible, spells opportunity to those skilled at
repairing it. I am starting a discussion about Spelter on my blog
Repairing Metalware. I plan to explore its history, how it was
manufactured, techniques for repairing it, etc.
Objects made of Spelter deserve to be enjoyed by future generations.
This can only happen if there are enough people skilled at repairing
them.
Click “Spelter Discussion Forum” in the upper menu bar on Repairing
Metalware Blog http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep8245