Travel back in time to ancient pewter mines at Royal Selangor in Singapore
Trapdoors and narrow chambers are exciting. You never know what you can discover inside — a piece of ancient treasure, a scare or just memories of a bygone era. But at Royal Selangor in Singapore, one can discover much more.
The dark chamber inside Royal Selangor‘s chic boutique at Clarke Quay transports one to 19th-century Malaysian pewter mines —where pewter, an alloy of tin, antimony and copper, is made.
As our guide Jaren took us along, one saw how Royal Selangor had evolved from its origin in 1885 as a small shop called ‘Ngeok Foh‘ (meaning Jade Peace) that made handcrafted pewter items for ceremonial use, to ‘Selangor Pewter‘ when mechanisation was introduced to speed up production, to 1992 when the company was bestowed the title by His Highness The Sultan of Selangor. Today, Royal Selangor is the world‘s largest company crafting pewter objects and incidentally also owns the largest pewter mines in the world — in Malaysia.
But the chamber has more than a collection of pictures depicting this trip down memory lane. A ‘pewter making‘ session was in progress. Our group of journalists had the privilege of seeing an ancient coin being re-cast. Pewter was used to make currency in the 18th and 19th centuries in Malaysia, said Jaren. The coin resembled a branch of the ‘Chinese money tree‘, a popular currency model of the past.
Using a ladle, molten pewter is poured into a mould shaped like a coin tree. A coin is chipped off the tree and polished so that the dull top layer (which is oxidised) is peeled off to reveal a shiny new surface. Designs are then hand-engraved on this surface. Jaren showed us a rare coin with an Arabic looking inscription. Of course, visitors prefer English inscriptions that read ‘Royal Selangor‘, he said. Lying in a heap are many such coins, indicating the popularity of this store among tourists.
At the end of the tunnel, one is greeted by light bouncing off walls that look suspiciously like gold. Going closer, one sees that the “walls” are actually pewter sheets, each sporting a unique design. These sheets encompass nearly all hand-made and machine-made designs that the company has produced so far.
Outside the tunnel is the world one is familiar with. One eagerly browsed through the exhibits at the Royal Selangor boutique in the hope of finding some timeless masterpieces. No luck, as every object looks ‘uber chic‘ — contemporary design, space-age finish and at times, a dash of colour. Gift items, office stationery, cutlery that looks too pretty to be used and personal accessories are some items on display. Most of these are limited-edition pieces backed by international design awards.
Doesn‘t anyone ask for an antique design any more? Not really. Corporates (the biggest clientele for Royal Selangor) prefer simple and modern designs, Jaren said. According to the company‘s Web site, except for a pair of chopstick rests, no other product on the list of ‘Top 10 gift ideas‘ has an oldish appeal to it.
As one left the boutique, Jaren quietly slipped something into one‘s palm. Late for the next tourist attraction, one put the item inside a handbag and bid him a hasty goodbye. Later that evening, a closer examination showed it to be an old, slightly bent pewter coin with an Arabic looking inscription. Hopefully, it says more than just ‘Royal Selangor‘!
Pewter is an alloy of tin (close to 97 per cent), antimony and copper. It has a dull silvery look and turns yellowish on oxidisation.
Owing to its low melting point, pewter is soft and easy to work with.
In the olden days, lead was added to strengthen the pewter. However, today, Royal Selangor does not add lead to pewter, conforming with international standards.
The earliest use of pewter was in minting currency. Malay royals used many forms of currency such as coins, coin trees and animal forms including crocodile, cockerel, elephant and turtle.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, pewter was commonly used in Oriental markets (Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and parts of China) to make ceremonial and prayer items such as incense stick stands and candle burners.
With colonialisation, pewter was also used to make tankards, ashtrays and tea sets for the British.
The world‘s largest pewter tankard, recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, was made by Royal Selangor in 1985 commemorating its centenary year. Now displayed at the company‘s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, the 1.987-metre-tall tankard weighs 1,557 kg and can fill 2,796 litres of beer.
In the 19th century, pewter was polished with a fine abrasive wild tropical leaf (tetracera scandens), popularly known as “stone leaf”. Today it is done on machines.
The Royal Selangor Visitor Centre in Kuala Lumpur has a pewter museum and allows visitors to make their own pewter items for a fee.
Source: www.thehindubusinessline.com (25 Juni 2007)