| In 1864 H. Syer Cummings showed items
made of Cock-metal at a meeting of The British Archaeological Association,
and said he believed their manufacture commenced during the previous year.
Cock-metal was there described as two parts copper and one part lead, but
is copper 88%, zinc 2%, tin 10% on the Parys Mining web site. (http://www.amlwchdata.co.uk/parys/brassproduction.htm). The 1864 reference was probably just intended to indicate they were using poor quality materials. Analysis of several “brass” examples has failed to find any lead. |