Pewter marks

The History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj includes 33 items made of pewter, measuring cups and various containers. Pewter, an alloy made of tin, antimony, copper, sometimes bismuth and silver, relatively easy to process, was widely used in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries in the production of everyday objects. Most of the pewter artifacts have production marks, with heraldic symbols, dates, and initials, quality marks, control marks etc. The items in our collection also display such symbols, and in their identification we turned to an external specialist, Dr. Kovács Mária. She has kindly informed us that some of the items were made in Ghimbav, Brașov county, and in Vienna (with the mark REIN Zinn, pure tin) and can be dated to the 18th and 19th centuries.