Calamine brass

Calamine brass is calamine, a zinc ore, rather than metallic zinc. Calamine brass was produced using proportions of two-sevenths fine copper, four-sevenths calamine, and one-seventh shruff (old plate brass). Calamine brass was the first type of brass produced, probably starting during the 1st millennium BC, and was not replaced in Europe by other brass manufactures until the 18th century (it is likely that Chinese and Indian brass manufacturers had developed more advanced techniques some centuries earlier).