Passion for Pewter

After a wonderful month here, today is our last full day in Malaysia. I spent the morning reveling in my passion for pewter at the Royal Selangor Visitor Center in Kuala Lumpur.

Yong Koon was a young man when he sailed from China to tin-rich Malaysia in 1885 to join his brothers and work as a pewter smith. His legacy, which his family still runs, is certainly a successful business!

Image of the founder from the entry to the visitor center

Image of early placer mining of tin

Tin mining is similar to panning for gold - and large dredges were introduced by 1913 when Malaysia was already producing over half of the world's tin.

Early pewter designs, including animals, were used for money. You can even snap the "coins" off the money tree and then return the stem and branches to get new coins attached as needed!

Pewter money animals and a coin tree

Yong Koon and his children crafted beautiful pewter products for ceremonial use and home use. This melon teapot created by Yong Koon saved a man's life during WWII when the man reached down to pick it up off the floor just as shrapnel flew over his head.

The "Lucky Pot" made by Yong Koon

A free guided tour goes through the history and then showcases the production method of the pewter products - from poured molds to polishing.

Molten pewter is poured into the molds

The molds cool quickly and tiny alligator money pops out

The production line is huge with many people working!

This is half of the production line!

Polishing the pieces on the production line

Today, products from Royal Selangor are sold all over the world in some of the most exclusive stores.

This beautiful self-sealing tea canister sells for $400

Besides the small and elegant, they have created some large objects including a model of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Model pewter Petronas Towers - begins on the floor below me!

They celebrated their 100th birthday in 1985 by creating a Guinness World Record pewter tankard.

Ready for almost 2,800 liters of beer?

They also hold two different classes for people interested in trying their hand at pewter-smithing. I took the easier "School of Hard Knocks" class where only one other student and I hammered away at our flat circles to create small bowls.

My classmate and I in the "School of Hard Knocks"

When we passed our class we received a certificate and the bowl we created as a reward. My classmate had a wonderful family that also cheered me on!

The successful students and their support crew

I had a lot of fun and learned many things about pewter at the Royal Selangor experience!