the.com/spelter
the cheap zinc impostor that lets dime-store statues pretend they're bronze
means Spelter is commercial-grade zinc, especially as used to cast inexpensive decorative objects made to mimic bronze, or as a sacrificial coating in galvanizing.
from A 17th-century English word, borrowed from Dutch or Low German spiauter, the same source that gave us 'pewter' — the two are essentially the same word wearing different metallic disguises. The ultimate roots are murky, but it traveled through the bustling metal trade of the Low Countries, where Dutch merchants moved zinc by the ton.
- old name
- 19th-century word for commercial zinc metal
- art fraud
- cast as fake bronze art nouveau figurines
- tell-tale scratch
- silver-gray under the surface, not warm brown
- melting point
- melts near 420C, far below true bronze
- galvanizing kin
- same zinc that armors steel against rust
bunker hill zinc smelter — largest primary zinc smelter in north america, located in kellogg, idaho since 1917
nyrstar portovesme smelter — major european zinc spelter producer in sardinia, italy, processing ~100,000 tons annually
glencore reckitts zinc works — historic british spelter manufacturer in widnes, england, operated 1852-2009