Is an alloy of copper and zinc. It is most common to use 67% copper and 33% zinc, which gives a yellow brass. If it contains more copper, the colour gets reddish; if there is less than 50% copper, the brass is white and with still more zinc, the colour gets grey. These variations are used to give the alloy different properties and effects.

     "All is not gold that glitters" but since the Middle Ages people has made use of the similarity of brass to gold. New alloys were given their names after the inventors or the similarity to gold. Consequently they have been called: Prince Roberts metal, Pinchbeck (yellow-reddish after the English clockmaker Kristoffer Pinchbeck), Tombak, Mannheimer-Gold, Similor, Muntz´metal and also poor mans gold.

     In the 16^th century the craftsmen working in brass had to import the material, even though a few brass works were set up in Sweden. The output however, was very small. Not until the 17^th century several brass works started. Besides the brass manufacturing they also produced handicraft-products. Outokumpu Copper in Västerås, Sweden - today one of the leading manufacturers in Europe of semi-manufactured copper and brass - has its roots in the oldest brass work in Sweden, Skultuna Bruk, established in 1607.

     The coppersmiths were the largest group working in brass during the Middle Ages. In the 16^th century the word brass-smiths turns up in Sweden. They had the foremost position, and they made different articles for general use as boiling pots, basins, bowls, mugs, dishes, caskets and boxes.

     The worship of lights is very deep in the men's minds. For that reason chandeliers and wall. -Plates often were the most magnificent ornaments of the churches and the wealthy homes, and bear witness to the skill of the brass-smiths. Brass chandeliers, imported from Germany and the Netherlands in the middle of the 15^th century, followed the simple iron chandeliers in the churches. There are only a few brass candlesticks left from the Middle Ages, and most of them seem to have had a church function. Most likely iron or wooden candlesticks only were used in the homes.

      In the old days the spacious rooms in the mansions and parsonages were much colder than the farmers cottage. As early as in 1570 movable braziers and fire-pans were manufactured for the court by the brass-smiths at Vattholma Bruk in Sweden.

      The brass iron was a symbol of wealth in the 17^th century. It was hollow with an aperture at the back, where a small iron glow-solder was placed. The girders made the brass iron, which in this century was an important group of crafts-men. They also produced sword-belts, girdles, sword-hilts, flagpole-points, clasps, buttons and candlesnuffers.

     Snuffing was a common habit among gentlemen as well as ladies. The snuffboxes possessed a large number of shapes; sometimes they were made of pure gold with jewels, but also in brass in unpretentious but beautiful forms. Skultuna and Bjurfors Bruk in Sweden manufactured brass tobacco-boxes from the beginning of the 18^th century to the middle of the 20^th.

     The braziers were most well known for producing bigger products as candlesticks and chandeliers to the churches, mortars and tools. The mortars were very important to the households, as the food, owing to bad storage, often became stale and had to be flavoured with aromatic herbs. Coffee beans were grinded in mortars too.

     The bridal crown is derived from the Madonna-crown of the Middle Ages. In the 17^th century the local craftsmen made it in brass, sometimes gold- or silver-plated.

     In the beginning of the 19^th century an old Swedish journal construed a code language. According to the code a person expressed feelings and thoughts by giving small gifts. A brass-ring meant: -Nothing will stand in the way of our love, a piece of copper: -I am afraid that the glass is dearer to you than I am, a brass-thread: -I feel sad, as I have not been seeing you for a long time.

     When cities very quickly began to grow in the middle of the 19^th century, many of the handmade products were replaced by factory-made, and the craftsmen disappeared and the brass was replaced by other alloys.

Sources:

Sigurd Erixon "Gammal mässing"

Maria de Lisitzin "Koppar, mässing, brons"