Pair of Candlesticks

Paktong—an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, originally from China, its name derived from the Cantonese "Baitong"—was highly valued in the West for its close resemblance to more costly silver, as well as its resistance to tarnish and its strength. Chinese understanding of the metallurgy involved in the production of nickel and paktong was far ahead of that in Europe during the 1600s and 1700s, with the result that paktong objects in England and Europe were nearly exclusively Chinese imports. Paktong was used to produce many of the same types of objects as brass, with fire tools and candlesticks among the leading products. With mentions as early as 1597 in our Western world, paktong (also known as tutenag) seems to have appeared around 4 A.D. in China and was later traded to the countries that held colonial or commercial interests in China, including Britain. Due to the scarcity and high demand that the alloy faced, Europeans attempted to re-create it or approximate its composition—such as the 19th-century emergence of German silver, an alloy of similar composition.