Is pewter a precious metal?

It's been reported to me through a source several degrees away from the action (and hence subject to confirmation) that Coday's parish (see If They're Worried, Finn's Doing Something Right, on September 15 below) is replacing its crystal communion set with a pewter set. Since when, my source asks, is PEWTER a precious metal? What the heck is pewter alloyed from anyways?

I can imagine someone ordering the clunkiest, ugliest vessels they can find, just to make a point that the glass vessels the Bishop made them get rid of were "more fitting."

And has there been some complaining about the cost? Somehow for centuries mission priests who may not have even had horses to get around with did manage to have precious metal vessels, but a parish in a reasonably prosperous part of Kansas City cannot get a gold-plated chalice and ciboria? Perhaps, with Finn's cuts to the CPLM, the parishes' diocesan assessment might go down and parishes will be able to use the money they save to buy some new, suitable vessels (or, heaven forbid, find some beautifully crafted antique vessels in a basement somewhere).