Monkey Metal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, for the most part...

Pot metal, also known as monkey metal, is an alloy of low-melting point metals that manufacturers use to make fast, inexpensive castings.  The term "pot metal" came about because of automobile factories' practice in the early 20th century of gathering up non-ferrous metal scraps from the manufacturing processes and melting them in one pot to form into cast products.  Small amounts of iron often made it into the castings but never in significant quantity because too much iron would raise the melting point too high for simple casting operations.

 In stained glass, "pot metal" or pot metal glass refers to glass colored with metal oxides while it is molten (in a pot), as opposed to other methods of coloring glass in sheet form.

 Metallurgy

There is no metallurgical standard for pot metal.  Common metals in pot metal include zinc, lead, copper, tin, magnesium, aluminum, iron, and cadmium.  The primary advantage of pot metal is that it is quick and easy to cast.  Because of its low melting temperature, it requires no sophisticated foundry equipment or specialized molds.  Manufacturers sometimes use it to experiment with molds and ideas (e.g., prototypes) before casting final products in a higher quality alloy.

 Depending on the exact metals "thrown into the pot", pot metal can become unstable over time, as it has a tendency to bend, distort, crack, shatter, and pit with age.  The low boiling point of zinc and fast cooling of newly cast parts often trap air bubbles within the cast part, weakening it.  Many components common in pot metal are susceptible to corrosion from airborne acids and other contaminants, and internal corrosion of the metal often causes decorative plating to flake off. Pot metal is not easily glued, soldered, or welded.

 In the late nineteenth century, pot metal referred specifically to a copper alloy that was primarily alloyed with lead.  Mixtures of 67% copper with 29% lead and 4% antimony and another one of 80% copper with 20% lead were common formulations.

 The primary component of pot metal is zinc, but often the caster adds other metals to the mix to strengthen the cast part, improve flow of the molten metal, or to reduce cost.  With a low melting point of 420 °C (786 °F), zinc is often alloyed with other metals including lead, tin, aluminum, and copper.

 Uses

 Pot metal is generally used for parts that are not subject to high stresses or torque.  Items created from pot metal include toys, furniture fittings, tool parts, electronics components, automotive parts, inexpensive jewelry and improvised weaponry.  Pot metal was commonly used to manufacture gramophone parts in the late 1920s and 1930s, with notable examples being the back covers on some His Master's Voice no.4 sound boxes and His Master's Voice no.5 sound boxes.  It was also used to make loudspeaker transducers used with early radio horn speakers before cone speakers were developed.  It is also used in inexpensive electric guitars and other budget-priced musical instruments.

Unusual, authentic Voodoo Priestess Estate piece and at a bargain price!

This is truly a rare opportunity to own anything with attributes to this estate.  The majority of this estate is now gone.  Most of what we had left, and it was considerable, has been split up and sold to a couple of private, foreign collector practitioners and will never be available to the public again.  We made the decision to do this as we have had some pretty strange visits from even stranger individuals and there have been enough unexplained phenomenon going on in the warehouse where her things were kept that many of our employees refused to go in there.

The pieces offered and sold here are some of the few remaining pieces that will ever be offered to the public.

Nice addition to any collection, wardrobe, altar, or decor, displays really well.

 Really doesn't get any better than this.

There are 6 photographs below to tell the rest of this tale and we hope you enjoyed the listing.

Buyer to pay $0.00 for Insured USPS Ground Advantage (Scenic Route) Mail with Unreliable Tracking and our own extraordinary handling with lagniappe.

Rest assured your order will be carefully packed to withstand the onslaught of the most deranged of Postal Workers.

 Payment is due at listing end.

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