Chats on Old Copper and Brass

by Fred. W. Burgess

The Brass of Commerce.

Many speak of brass as a metal apart from copper, yet the brass of commerce, worked up in many forms, is only a composite metal of which copper is the basis. The popularity of pure copper as the material from which household utensils and many constructional objects of use and ornament were made in the past continued unabated until metallurgical chemists discovered how, by using an alloy of zinc, the metal we call brass could be cast, rolled, and otherwise manipulated. Among the advantages claimed for brass is that it has a harder surface and is more resisting than copper. From the days of Queen Elizabeth onward it was much favoured for domestic vessels, and even at the present time it is used to some extent; there has, however, always been a concurrent use of copper.