# Measuring lead content in pewter

I've bought pewter at the thrift store and I want to try casting metal. This pewter may contain toxic metals. A ready-made testing kit I've found cost €25 for each sample.

In comparison pewter of know origin (98% tin/2% antimony) costs €40 per kg, pewter from the thrift store is €4 per kg. If possible I want to test the pewter before buying.

Is there an easy way to measure the lead content of a pewter sample?

I'm not a chemist but do have a basic understanding of chemistry. I've calculated the density of the sample to be: $8.55~g~cm^{3} ± 0.5~g~cm^{3}$.

• How did you calculate the density? – Joseph Hirsch Dec 10 '16 at 18:20
• Does it look shiny like silver or dull like lead? Also is it soft enough to bend very easily? Pewter will not resonate much when tapped but nickel silver will. – Joseph Hirsch Dec 10 '16 at 18:32
• I measured the weight and water displacement. But very roughly, that's why I gave it a large margin of error. – JWRM22 Dec 10 '16 at 18:41
• It bend very easy. I didn't do a ring test. But I can melt it on an electric stove. – JWRM22 Dec 10 '16 at 18:42
• That's ok it's mostly tin and or lead. Not sure how best to find lead percent. Tin has 2 forms with different densities. – Joseph Hirsch Dec 10 '16 at 19:14