Pinchbeck is a zinc and copper alloy developed in the early 1700’s as a reasonably priced substitute for gold. Named for it’s inventor Christopher Pinchbeck a clockmaker of the time. With a look and feel of gold as well as the ability to work with it in similar fashion pinchbeck became a popular replacement to high cost gold jewelry. Mr. Pinchbeck’s formula was quickly copied and adopted by many other jewelers of the time causing the word to become a generic term for gold substitutes of the time.
