Dutch metal

British  

noun

1. a substitute for gold leaf, consisting of thin sheets of copper that have been turned yellow by exposure to the fumes of molten zinc

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Example Sentences

The watches are worthless, the diamonds and other jewels are paste, and the gold is pinchbeck or Dutch metal.

From The Secrets of the Great City by McCabe, James Dabney

Matthew, I found, was but a piece of coarse gingerbread, tricked out with the Dutch metal of false sentiment.

From Sketches by Seymour — Volume 05 by Seymour, Robert

It sustains the same relation to sincerity that Dutch metal does to pure gold.

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Miscellany by Ingersoll, Robert Green

Dutch metal will bear no cleaning, but a new material, not absolutely gold, but very like it, will stand any amount of soap and water.

From Paper and Printing Recipes A Handy Volume of Practical Recipes, Concerning the Every-Day Business of Stationers, Printers, Binders, and the Kindred Trades by Ford, J. Sawtelle

Articles of plaster and wood may be bronzed by coating them with size and then covering them with a bronze powder, such as Dutch metal, beaten into fine leaves and powdered.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various