COMPLETELY off topic... need to jog my memory

[Dover]

I just need some help thinking of something that I'm sure someone here knows.

A friend and I found an old and beautiful 'headstone' on her property that is made out of a cast metal that you don't see much anymore...but I CAN'T think of the name of it and might go crazy if it doesn't come to me soon. It's not aluminum (much heavier) but is that kind of gray, and is rust proof. I want to say zinc but that's not it.

[Why Syzygy]

1. Bismuth?

I don't know but here's a website about all things metal (it's interesting)
>>
http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cramb/Processing/history.html

[japple]

2. Pewter? n/t

[Grateful for Hope]

3. I didn't think of this

But, I think you could be right, japple.

[nuxvomica]

4. Pewter?

I don't know if they ever made headstones with that. I've never heard of metal headstones period. :shrug:

[Dover]

5. Nope...neither of those I'm afraid. Thanks for that great link. I can't believe it's not on there

but then I suppose pewter wasn't on there either. It may be some combination of those metals rather than a pure type. I don't know why the word 'zinc' seems close...whether the word has a 'z' in it or what. ARGH!

I think it used to be a popular cast metal to use perhaps before aluminum, because like that metal it is rust free. But it's much heavier than aluminum.

[Dover]

6. Oh for crying out loud....

My friend's husband walked in the house after work and before she could even say hello he walked over
to the metal headstone, examined it for a moment and exclaimed, "wow, what a great old zinc headstone!". She told him we'd been trying to think of that metal all day and tossed out zinc as an option early on.

So there it is. No wonder my mind kept wandering back to "sounds like zinc...". Duh! :silly:

Thanks for offering your help....and for putting up with my brain-fade senior moment.