Spelter Spelter Spelter, while sometimes used merely as a synonym for zinc, is often used to identify a zinc alloy. In this sense it might be an alloy of equal parts copper and zinc, i.e. a brass, used for hard soldering and brazing, or as an alloy, containing lead, that is used instead of bronze. In this usage it was common for many 19th-century cheap, cast articles such as candlesticks and clock cases and early 20th-century Art Nouveau ornaments and Art Deco figures. Early twentieth-century Art Nouveau and Art Deco figures and lamps were often made of spelter. The metal has
Latten is not generally referred to as latten. This calamine brass was generally manufactured as hammered sheet or "battery brass" (hammered by a "battery" of water-powered trip hammers) and cast brass was rare. "Latten" also refers to a type of tin plating on iron (or possibly some other base metal), which is known as "white latten"; and "black latten" refers to "laten-brass", which is brass milled into thin plates or sheets. The term "latten" has also been used, rarely, to refer to lead alloys. In general, metal in thin sheets is said to be latten such as "gold latten"; and "lattens"