Spelter

Spelter is a zinc–lead alloy that ages to resemble bronze, but is softer and has a lower melting point.

The name can also refer to a copper–zinc alloy (a brass) used for brazing, or to pure zinc.

In his etymology of the English language, 19th-century philologist Walter William Skeat speculated that the word pewter might have been derived from spelter.

[1] An inexpensive alloy that is easily cast and worked, spelter was used from the 1860s in the manufacture of candlesticks, clock cases, tableware, and light fixtures.

Brass was made using a cementation process but this was replaced by speltering, the direct alloying of copper and zinc metal which was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.