Britannia metal or britannium is a pewter-type alloy favoured for its silvery appearance and smooth surface. The composition is approximately and typically 92% tin, 6% antimony, and 2% copper.
Britannia was first produced in 1769 or 1770, under the name of "Vickers White Metal", by the Sheffield manufacturers Ebenezer Hancock and Richard Jessop.
Britannia is a specific type of pewter branded for marketing purposes. It is typically spun rather than cast.
Brittania metal melts at 255 degrees Celsius.
After the development of electroplating with silver in 1846, Britannia metal was widely used as the base metal for silver plated household goods and cutlery. The abbreviation EPBM on such items denotes "electroplated Britannia metal". Britannia metal was generally used as a cheaper alternative to electroplated nickel silver (EPNS) which is more durable.
Some authorities and collectors think this "white metal" sometimes formed a base for early experimentations in mercury and tin or latten metal plating in the 18th and early 19th centuries.. One notable use of britannium is to make the Oscar statuettes handed out each year at the Academy Awards. The 8½-pound statuettes are Britannia metal plated with gold.
Britannia metal should be distinguished from Britannia silver, a high-grade alloy of silver.
Britannia metal is also called Britannia Ware.
Famous quotes containing the words britannia and/or metal:
“When Britain first, at Heaven’s command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of her land,
And guardian angels sung the strain:
Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never shall be slaves.”
—James Thomson (1700–1748)
“We are supposed to be the children of Seth; but Seth is too much of an effete nonentity to deserve ancestral regard. No, we are the sons of Cain, and with violence can be associated the attacks on sound, stone, wood and metal that produced civilisation.”
—Anthony Burgess (b. 1917)