I used this to make dinner last night and I’m in love.
- Type: Tin-lined sauté in hammered finish with an iron handle fitted with three copper rivets
- French description: Sauteuse étamée et martelée avec queue de fer munie de trois rivets en cuivre
- Dimensions: 26cm diameter by 7.7cm high (10.2 inches by 3 inches)
- Thickness: 3.1mm at rim
- Weight: 4200g (9.3 lbs)
- Stampings: “26” and “W”
- Maker and age estimate: Unknown; 1930s-1940s?
- Source: eBay (UK)
This pan brings together all the things I love about vintage copper: beauty, strength, usefulness, good design, and history. The 26cm (10.2 inch) size is a sweet spot for copper sautés — the diameter provides enough floor space to cook a full meal but the pan is still the right size to be maneuvered around the kitchen. I had this pan freshly retinned and I used it for the first time last night and it performed beautifully. The tin has some slight cloudiness from food contact but the whole thing still gleams.
The internal rivets have the mushroom heads of mass production. The external rivets look mashed and deformed. The handle itself is cast iron. Putting these together, and looking at the pan overall, I’d estimate this as early to mid-20th century, perhaps the 1930s or 1940s.
It has no maker’s mark but carries the stamps “26” and “W.” This pan actually had some nice patina but an over-exuberant tinner wiped it all out. Sigh.
The rim shows marks from past cooks. I love finding this.
I have no idea who made it. I’ll keep gathering clues and come back if I think I find something definitive.
But no matter who made it, it’s just a great lovely pan and I’m happy to have it.
