Kim Bosen, age 14, of Bennington, Vt., for her question:

Throughout all of recorded history craftsmen have been turning out artistic, decorative and utilitarian items made of one or more kinds of metal by either hammering, joining or casting the metal.

Iron, copper, tin, lead, gold and silver had all already been developed by the First Century A.D. Workin.g with copper actually started more than 4,000 years before that time.

Metalwork is done either in precious or base metal. Precious metals include silver and gold. Platinum joined the list in the 18th Century. Base metals include iron, copper, tin and lead.

At first, gold and silver metalwork was reserved for religious use, since these metals were considered sacred to the sun and moon. The metalwork came out as jewelry, temple decorations or ceremonial figures.

As the precious metals became more available, they were used by a wider group than just those of a religious nature. The elite in each society, including nobility, used gold and silver metalwork as extensions of their personal adornment. Also included were eating and drinking items, mirrors, chairs and beds.

Gold and silver soon acquired great value which was eventually expressed in the first coins which were issued in the Sixth Century B.C. by King Croesus of Lydia, present day western Turkey.

The techniques of working metal came about very slowly. Of great importance in the growing art was the discovery in about 4000 B.C. of smelting, or the melting of metal ore.

With the knowledge of smelting, it wasn't long until different ores were mixed together to produce alloys.

By about 2500 B.C., all of the main techniques of metalwork had been developed. These included forging or beating, hammering, grinding, polishing, piecing, soldering and casting.

The production of bronze by blending copper and tin was in wide use by about 1500 B.C. Bronze was easier to cast than copper and it also produced much better tools and weapons.

An improvement in making bronze came when it was discovered that with tin and copper smelted separately and then mixed together, a better control was possible with the finished item.

In Greece and Rome, bronze was prized for such items as beds, oil lamps and tall lamp stands. It was often elaborately decorated. In China bronze was used almost exclusively for bells, mirrors, weapons and decorations for horse trappings and chariots.

For thousands of years, until about the middle of the 18th Century, everything was handmade in the metalwork field. Then with the Industrial Revolution came the appearance of machine made useful objects and handsome decorative art pieces.

In deciding the type of metal to use, the shape, function and appearance of the metalwork had to be studied.