Engraved Tankards: Pewter, Glass and Steel, and the Winner's Pint

Few gifts are as British as an engraved tankard. It has marked retirements, twenty-first birthdays, best-man duties and sporting victories for generations, and it still gets used, which is more than can be said for most commemorative gifts.

Pewter, glass or steel?

Modern pewter is an alloy made mostly of tin, with small amounts of copper and antimony, and it is lead-free. Sheffield has a long pewter-making tradition, and British-made pewter tankards are still widely available, often with a stamp on the base indicating where they were made.

The glass bottom: legend and reality

Many pewter tankards have a glass base, and two stories are told about it. One says it let drinkers spot the King's shilling dropped into their drink by a press gang, since taking the coin meant you had accepted naval service. The other says it let you keep an eye on someone approaching while you drank. Historians are sceptical of both, and the glass bottom was probably simply a stylish feature, but the stories are part of the charm, and an engraver can put a message on the glass itself to be read only when the tankard is empty.

What to engrave

• Retirement: name, years of service and the company or team, e.g. "John Smith · 1986 to 2026 · Well earned".
• Birthdays: "21 today", "Vintage 1976" or the person's name in a traditional font.
• Weddings: one tankard per usher with their name and the date, to be used for the toast.
• Sport: the competition, the year and the winner's name, trophy-style.

The winner's tankard: trophies, races and the card table

Long before personalised gift shops, the engraved tankard was a prize. Golf clubs, rowing regattas, darts leagues and local race meetings have handed out pewter and silver tankards to winners for well over a century, engraved with the event and the year, and many still do: the "tankard competition" is a familiar fixture in British golf club calendars. A tankard engraved with the name of a club competition, the winning score and the date makes a superb gift for someone who has just won, or has spent twenty years trying to. Golfers who back themselves with a friendly side bet will appreciate the tie-in with our guide to gifts for golfers who like a flutter, and racegoers should see engraved hip flasks and the racecourse.

The tankard also belongs at the card table. Cribbage, dominoes and pub poker have been played over a pint in British pubs for generations, and pubs in Great Britain are still allowed to offer "equal chance" games such as these for small stakes, within limits set by the Gambling Commission, without a casino licence. A set of engraved tankards for a regular cribbage four or a monthly poker game, each with the player's name and nickname, will be pulled off the shelf every time. For the cards and chips to go with them, see gifts for poker players.

Caring for a tankard

Hand-wash pewter in warm soapy water and dry it straight away; never put it in the dishwasher, which can dull and discolour the metal. Glass tankards with sandblasted or laser engraving are tough, but hand-washing keeps the frosted lettering crisp. Steel tankards are the most forgiving.

For other engraved glassware, from champagne flutes to whisky tumblers, see our guide to flutes, wine glasses and tumblers.

Written by the Ribbon & Tag editors.