Selangor Pewter Report

   Last Friday, our school went to Royal Selangor Pewters visitor center and factory. We went there in two vehicles, a car and a van. We were separated into two batches.The trip to the place was quite long as it was in Setapak.

 

  When we reached there, we were surprised as the visitor center was as big as a shopping mall. We went to a large tankard to take photo with it as it was Selangor Pewter’s landmark. The tankard we took was officially recognized by the Guinness Book Of Record. It was the World’s Largest Tankard. Its height is 1.987 m (6.46 ft) and it weighs 1557 kg (1.53 ton). It capacity is 2796 liter (615 gal). Royal Selangor Pewter is proud for its famous tin products.

 

We went into the visitor center. We entered into the visitor center through a large archway. Our guide, Edmond told us about Selangor Pewter’s history. The founder came from Shantou, China during the Qing Dynasty to Kuala Lumpur, Malay States. He showed us some picture of the tin mine. Last time, Selangor Pewter was only a shop. It was visited by the Sultan of Selangor. After that, he showed us the different forms of money being used and the founder’s utilities like his clothing, his personal notes. Surprisingly, the visitor center still has sample of ancient ignots and tin bars in display. The tin bars weigh 40kg.

 

   Then, the tour guide shows us swarf. Swarf means fine chips of filings of stone, metal, etc. It was the main ingredient to make these tin products. Later, we saw a dredger. We also saw the actual size of a dredging bucket. It was huge! In the tour, we saw a mini size twin tower made of 120 tankards. Later, we saw the the touchmark of Selangor Pewter. It wrote“玉和足锡(yu he zu xi). It means jade, peace, pure and tin. This touchmark was used by Tong Koon and his brothers from the late 1890s.

 

After the tour in the visitor center, our guide brought us to the factory to see the process of their tin products. Their factory is the world largest pewter factory. It is built by 5 shop lots. First, we went to see how they do pewter casting. They melt pewter at high temperature and boil it into pewter liquid. Then it was scoop and pour into a metal model to make a cup handle. The process takes about 15 seconds, as it uses 3 seconds to cold into solid tin. Average, they can produce 500 a day. Next, we went to see how they polish tin cups. The uneven cups produce pewter shavings. They are as soft as cloths. Then, we went to the pewtersmithing station. This process requires 6 months of training as well as concentration and speed. The process is to knock the cup to make small dots as design, so concentration is needed. We were all given a change to knock the cup, known as pewtersmithing. Lastly, we went to the place where they make Selebran jewelry.

 

  Before returning to school, we were brought to the souvenir place where we can buy Selangor Pewter’s product. Unknowingly, Selangor Pewter also provides trophy to the Ferrari competitions and the Shanghai Tennis Rolex Masters trophies. Later, we went back to school.
  

I learnt about the makings of Selangor Pewters and origin. I hope to learn more about it next time.