Royal Selangor Visitor Center

Pewter Tankard

Listed in the Guinness World Records as "World's largest Pewter Tankard" is what sealed the deal for us. Being the beer lovers we are, we wanted to be captured with "largest beer mug" in the world.

Everyone was clueless when we asked about the Royal Selangor Visitor Center at our hotel reception. A few of them directed us towards the Royal Selangor Club. Realizing that it is not very popular among the locals, we did a little research on our own. Took a LRT from KL station and got down in Wangsa Maju/Sri Rampai LRT. Even though equipped with GPS, we asked for directions at the station. Mistake number one. We asked two people and both of them signaled in opposite directions. It did nothing more than to confuse us. Mistake number two. Instead of trusting our sense of directions, we blindly followed the GPS. An hour or so after walking for more than 3 KM drenched in sweat, huffing and puffing we reached our destination.

Royal Selangor Visitor Center

 We were welcomed by the smiling staff at the front desk asking us whether we are interested in guided tour. Hell ya! And they served us chilled lemonade in a pewter. We were parched, exhausted, and really thankful to their hospitality. Blame it on our ignorance, we didn't know what is pewter until that moment.

In 1885, a young Chinese man, Yong Koon arrives in Malaysia. He is equipped with a set of tools, craftsmanship of pewtersmithing, and a dream to achieve something big.  Initially he started with joss stick holders, incense burners and candle stands for Chinese homes and temples. And much later started catering other objects like Tankards, tea pots, ashtrays, etc., to British Colonial. It was called Selangor pewter back then. The business grew in multi-folds and now they have their global presence in all retail capitals of the world including Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Sidney, Mumbai, Singapore, Toronto, Japan.

Yong Koon

Tin was used as a form of currency in those days. Chiseled out tins in the form of animals such as turtle, elephant, crocodile were widely used as currency. When we looked at a small money tree made out of pewter, the idiom "Money doesn't grow on tree" flashed in our mind immediately.

Currency

Money Tree

Pewter is a mix of tin and antimony and Copper. Dating back to 1500 BC the pewter objects have been unearthed in Egypt. It is completely food safe and melts at 250 degree Celsius. Pewter cauldron was mandatory in the first year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter; however we had not paid much attention to this detail while reading book or watching movie. The Academy Award is a 3.85 Kg gold-plated pewter statuette.

A "lucky pot", one of Yong Koon's original piece is back in their collection in a mysterious way. It is called lucky because it saved his life from a bullet shot during pre-war. A replica of Petronas towers was created with 7062 tankards. Both towers stand over two storeys high at an impressive height of 9.1 meters. Attention to detail is praiseworthy as it includes the skybridge and entirely handmade to boot.

Lucky Pot

Petronas

Giant container of pewter swarf, which weighs about 1578 kilos is another highlight of the museum. If an employee working for Royal Selangor completes 5 years and above will get his/her handprint on the wall, which is nothing short of hall of fame. What could be the better way of appreciating an employee than this? The idea is original and we were very much impressed.

Pewter Swarf

Hand print

We were toured around the working area where 250 skilled artisans create beautiful handmade pewter. The space was deserted and our guide mentioned it is their lunch time. However, we observed the little process like polishing, hammering, and engraving. And finally we were escorted towards the showroom that houses the pewter products like drinkware, home decor, ornaments, tableware, accessories, wine and bar items. This is really a nice place to pick a souvenir to take back home.

Like always we saved the best for the last, that is the giant tankard. It was commissioned in 1985 to celebrate the centenary year. With a height of 6 feet 6 inches, weight of 1.53 tons, and capacity of 2796 liters, it entered Guinness World Records in 1987. The tankard is said to have traveled around the world. The whole experience of knowing something new and being clicked with the tankard was totally worth our strenuous walk and getting lost.

  

View from Wangsa Maju/Sri Rampai LRT

Admission to the Visitor Center is free. The visitor center provides complimentary guided tours.