I don’t know if I’m going to be able to use this pan.

• Type: Tin-lined rondeau in hammered finish with brass handles fastened with three copper rivets and brass lid handle fastened with one copper rivet on each bracket
• French description: Rondeau inhabituellement charismatique étamé et martelé avec des poignées en laiton munies de trois rivets en cuivre et une poignée en laiton sur le couvercle munie d’un rivet en cuivre sur chaque support
• Dimensions: 28cm diameter by 9cm high (11 inches by 3.5 inches)
• Thickness: 2mm at rim
• Weight: 2672g (5.9 lbs) without lid, 3528g (7.8 lbs) with lid
• Stampings: None
• Maker and age estimate: Likely Havard; 1960s-2000
• Source: Etsy

I’m fundamentally against the idea that copper should be seen and not used. I’m certainly guilty of taking pride in my copper collection and wanting to display it beautifully, but I do cook in them. (Some pieces more often than others, of course!) I see copper pots and pans as art that should be used.

This pan, however, gives me pause. It is just so beautiful. I don’t know that I could bear dinging it up. I mean, how could I put scratches on that base?

 

Even the lid is hammered. I just love pans like this that have been hammered on every surface.

 

Even though I am reluctant to use it, this pan certainly has been used before. The blackened buildup around the base of the handles is residue from cooking. (Take a good look at the handle design too — it’s a clue to the pan’s maker.)

The numbers on the interior rivets are an artifact of modern construction (1970s or later). Nobody is quite certain what the numbers mean, but they could refer to diameter or length of something like that. I am looking for an authoritative source about this.

 

The interior tin is clean but has definitely been used. If I could get over my hang-up about using it, I would cook on this tin without qualm. It’s ready to go.

 

This pan is completely un-stamped so I can only guess who made it. It could be Mauviel, but Harestew — who is quite knowledgeable about Mauviel — told me she suspects it is made by Havard, a chaudronnerie that is attached to the bell foundry of the same name in Villedieu-les-Poêles. Havard is known for hammering the bases of its pots but so did Mauviel as well. The difference, according to my friend, is that Havard’s hammer marks are rounder than Mauviel’s, which are more oblong or diamond shaped. (The handles are also not of Mauviel design.) What do you think?

 

A 28cm rondeau like this is a wonderful pan and one of the most useful pieces in a copper batterie and shame on me for not using it. Fortunately I have another one of the same size that I use all the time, so I don’t need to press this one into service. For now I just look at it and apologize to it that I am too vain to put it to work!