My wife and I were big fans of miniature / fantasy gaming until recently. Those figurines, bases, and the like are also made of pewter. My knowledge is going to come from one of the manufacturers, where I have actually seen the figurines being cast in person.

Different manufacturers use different recipes for pewter. Some of them are lead-free. Lead free will probably be softer than a lead-based recipe and will bend more before it breaks. Some recipes include lead, which hold a better shape but are likely to be more brittle. Lead-based recipes may be coming into fashion again due to other ingredients of the alloy becoming less available and more expensive.

In short, some recipes are softer than others. I think the answer to the original question is "both," depending on what actually went into the pewter.

So I finally finished the Paul Fox Mini Cups and Paul Fox Mini Combo Cups in pewter.
I have not had them polished yet, as I think the satin (brushed) finish looks very nice and modern.
Check them out here:
Paul Fox Mini Cups - Pewter
Paul Fox Mini Combo Cups - Pewter

They are kind of hard to photograph and I only have a couple of pictures up so far, but when I get more Photoshop time, I'll edit more pics.

Donnie, congratulations, they look wonderful!
Bri

Donnie : couldn't get the link to work but I'll try again later.

Those look great!

Really like the look of these cups Donnie.

Any plans for standard sized cups in pewter?