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Wilton Armetale is a new material based on an aluminum alloy, developed by the Wilton Brass Company in 1963. The material has the look of pewter and silver, and is capable of being cast into different forms with intricate, embossed designs.

The US Food and Drugs Administration have also approved the material for food service.

All these makes the material eminently suitable for making cook and serve ware suitable for different environments such as Americana, Artistic, Traditional, Classic and Natural.

We look at some of the American Inspiration products under the Wilton Armetale range.

America Inspired Collections

Wilton had offered an Americana Collection with center ceramic plates with Eagle and other Americana themes. These plates are no longer being made.

The American Inspiration range originates from uniquely American sources. These include American Folk Art, the earlier iron pieces made by Wilton family in the last century and other very traditional pieces such as the Give Us This Day bread tray.

The Antiquity collection includes designs based on American Indian art and American Colonial themes like Doves & Hearts that represent life in American Country of an earlier era.

The Ames Candlestick reproduces a pewter candlestick designed along mid-18th century style and was in the collection of the Ames family of Pennsylvania.

Auto Tags were used as decorative elements for the front of that very American product, the automobile. These are offered referencing hobbies such as fishing, hunting and golfing.

The Beat Up Mug is an authentic reproduction of an early American pewter mug, a nostalgic piece representing rustic Americana of the Country home.

One of the more prestigious projects of Wilton Armetale was its participation in the American Bicentennial celebration. The company produced the Two Handle Porringer and the Barber Bowl from the Revolutionary period, with the Bicentennial Seal of Approval granted by a group of scholars, historians and artists.

The Cantabria is a collection with a Spanish-American perspective, and came with recipes for Spanish food.

The Caudle Cup is based on a pewter design piece of around 1725, and was used to serve a hot drink of wine, eggs, rum and oatmeal.

The Colonial series reproduced the American Colonial era practice prominent families to have their coat of arms engraved on their pewter and silver pieces. The products in this series bear the Wilton family coat of arms. The Colonial Four mugs, on the other hand, reproduces the official government seals of four colonies – Virginia, Ohio, Peter Stuyvesant-New York and Plymouth.

The Copacabana series represent a long beach typical of South Miami beaches, with stylized palm tree and coconuts.

Wilton Armetale commissioned the Designers series from some of America’s leading tabletop and jewelry designers. The designers included Katherine DeSousa, Laura Handler, Dan Reiser, David Tisdale, Ellen Evans and Will Prindle.

The Federal series representing the Federal period in the history of America was an adaptation of a Federal era pewter piece.

The Gates House plate, reproduced from a plate found in the home of General Horatio Gates during restoration, reproduces the original soft patina with a rough finish, and dents and knife marks of the original plate.

Wilton Armetale is a pewter and silver look-alike material developed by the Wilton Brass Company in 1963. The metal was ideal to make cook and serve wares that were inspired by specific themes.

The Artistic Design category is one of the collections created by the company. The emphasis of this collection was on historic reference. It was also more eclectic in applicable environments than categories like Natural, Grand or Classic. The products under this collection interpret historic references in a contemporary manner.

The Artistic Design Collection includes sub-categories like Antiquity, Songs & Sonnets and Visionary. We look at each of these sub-categories in the following sections.

The Antiquity Collection

The products in this collection reference various cultural designs, many of them dating back to antiquity. Ethnic designs of ancient and more recent tribal communities are reflected in this collection.

The tribal motifs include American Indian and African designs used during historical times. Early American folk art designs are also included under the Antiquity category.

The African collection includes pitchers, trivets, bowls, casseroles, chip & dip servers, trays and wine bottle coasters, with rim designs inspired by tribal art displayed on canoes, houses, fabrics, shields and other objects of the tribal communities of Chad, Kenya and several other African countries.

The Doves & Hearts series was based on American folk art motifs, such as the Lovebirds Bread Tray that depicted two lovebirds facing each other with a heart between them. The series seeks to recapture American Colonial, Traditional and Country environments.

Songs & Sonnets Collection

This series celebrates the diversity of the world’s people, as seen through songs, stories, poetry and designs of different communities. We look at a few examples.

The Potlatch series remembered the ceremonial gift-giving festival of American Northwest Coastal Indians. The series included carved Canoe Bowls, Eagle candleholder, a Totem of a Bear and Beaver, a plate with a Raven and Human Face, a tray with layers of masks and faces and a bowl with a Seal design.

The Reggae series employed a festive and whimsical combination of spirals and zig zags to evoke the rhythms of the Caribbean.

The Copacabana series references the deco architecture of South Miami Beach, with stylized palm tree and coconuts along a beach evocative of ocean waves and clouds above.

The Visionary Collection

This collection includes the Scroll, Oasis, Elara, Boston and Free Form series.

The lively scroll designs infuse the symmetry of classical designs with the dynamic movement of the scroll motif.

The flowing lines and sweeping forms of the Oasis series seeks to capture the strength of Italian Futurism and organic flow of Japanese Zen.

Elara is one of Jupiter’s moons, and products in this series have highly polished curvilinear surfaces and sculptured contours, creating a contemporary cosmopolitan ambience.

Free form designs are seen in such collections as those created by Bruce Fox in Free Form Bowls and Banana Leaf Large Servers, and in the Cloud series serving pieces inspired by cumulous clouds.

The Wilton Armetale Artistic collections are indeed eclectic, suitable for varied environments.

Wilton Armetale developed the aluminum alloy based material that they called Armetale, combining ‘art’ and ‘metal’. This metal was capable of being cast and worked upon by hand.

The Wilton Company’s emphasis was on producing themed cook and serve ware, and incidentals with the new material. This was not a problem as US Food & Drugs Administration had approved the material for food service.

The range of themes was varied, and included Antique, Natural, Classic, Americana and Artistic. In this article, we look at products with themes of different holidays.

Christmas Season

The 12 Days of Christmas series consisted of Christmas Tree ornaments, depicting Partridge to the Drummers, one each year. While 1978 saw the Partridge the last one in 1989 showed the Drummers. These are not being produced any more.

Wilton Armetale has continued to introduce other items like collectible plates, and serving pieces such as trays, dinner plates, mugs and bowls each Christmas season. Traditional Christmas songs, Street scenes, Angels and other religious depictions adorned these items.

Christmas tree motifs, in alternating green and red, were the theme of a festive Christmas service series that included a goblet and a crested mug with a ceramic insert. A more formal alternative to the trees series was the star topped tree in an oval signet, accented in red.

The White Holly series that included three plates, a wine bottle coaster, a trivet and a goblet had decorative rim motif and was accented in white.

The Christmas series are collectibles and heirlooms, and could be used for presenting food on the table, or for displaying on the wall.

Halloween

A dancing skeleton is the theme of the dancing skelly series of Halloween season products that include an oval tray, large round bowl, trivet, large round tray and wine bottle coaster.

Easter Collection

The Easter collection combines the scenes of spring and the traditional celebrations associated with Easter.

The collection includes a bunny egg tray and bunny bread tray depicting a bunny among undergrowth and hen egg tray with a hen on her eggs in the middle.

Wilton Armetale Holiday Range

Though probably not as extensive as many other themes, such as artistic and Americana, Wilton Armetale’s holiday collections do effectively celebrate the spirit of the holidays. The products are both collectibles and utility articles that could last a lifetime.

The holiday range is supplemented by Grill ware that can be used for both grilling and serving. The grill range includes trays, saucepots, bowls, platter, griddle, trivet and a vegetable griller.