Hammertone pewter, I am assuming, is pewter that has a hammered appearance. As far as pewter is concerned, it will tarnish subtly (although never the dark grey that old lead based pewter alloys would become) and develop a patina which many pewter lovers prefer to a bright finish. Pewter is soft, will dent, mark, score, scratch, etc. more then harder metals. That is not to say it isn't suitable for jewelry. It is. And particularly cast jewelry. There are many lines out there by artisans that mostly use pewter. One line to check is "Lovell Designs". You can create a beautiful line of jewelry or tabletop wear that prices more affordable then if made with sterling. You can ornament it with stones, low temp enamels, have a "mixed metals" look by having brass accents, etc..
Historically, a wealthy community such as "Williamsburg", a thriving plantation community, would be able to support a silversmith in it's economy. But then there were the more common farming communities like "Sturbridge" where the economy of the town could only support a pewterer. Imagine having your utensils made of lead? (pewter then was a lead alloy, today it is a tin alloy).
I have made many things with pewter from jewelry to small boxes to spun bowls and cast utensils. It does have it's own set of characteristics to become familiar with but does work easily, casts easily, can be spun, fluted, hammered (planished that is), polishes up nicely and also looks great with a satin finish. It solders with a low temperature tin based soldering alloy. However, it can't be used to hand forge or fabricate fine jewelry and wouldn't be the choice for setting fine gems. If you also work with sterling, I would keep separate buffs for pewter. Hope this helps:)
Jim