This is a groovy pot.

• Type: Tin-lined rondeau in hammered finish with brass handles fitted with three copper rivets
• French description: Rondeau étamé et martelé avec poignées en laiton munies de trois rivets en cuivre
• Dimensions: 32cm diameter by 12.5cm high (12.6 inches by 4.9 inches)
• Thickness: 3.1mm at rim
• Weight: 6026g (13.3 lbs)
• Stampings: “Chomette Favor”; “MADE IN FRANCE”
• Maker and age estimate: Likely Mauviel; 1957s-1960s?
• Source: TJFRANCE (eBay)

This pot is gorgeous — a lovely vintage example of an expansively sized rondeau. At 12.5cm (4.9 inches) tall, it’s a little tall for a rondeau — an inch taller and it’d be a stewpot — but this is the same height as my other 32cm rondeaux and so I suppose it’s a standard measure for a pan of this size.

At the moment I think it’s a 1950s-1960s era pot made by Mauviel and I’d like to walk you through why I think that, because this is always a bit of a guessing game.

First, the handles. I’m still learning about handles but I suspect this is a 20th century style. That said, those are hammered rivets, not machine-spun, so this was made before mechanized riveting came into use for copper pots.

 

The interior also has hammered rivets. Pots of the modern era tend to have rounded internal rivets, sometimes stamped with numbers. These have been flattened. (I have a whole post about rivets if you’re interested in more detail about this.)

 

Secondly, there is a quite a lot of character on this pot. Character is a wonderful thing and it tends to show up on pots that were heavily used in restaurants, as few of us home chefs sling copper around like those guys did (and do).

 

Now let’s look at the stamps.

 

Chomette Favor (now simply Chomette) is a French restaurant supply store that’s been in business since 1880. As far as I can tell, Chomette has not manufactured its own copper cookware but instead stamped its own mark on pots supplied by Mauviel or other French makers. When you see a Chomette-stamped pot for sale, know that it’s likely Mauviel make, as I suspect this pot is. (The Chomette mark also supports my theory that this pot picked up its patina during a professional career.)

This is a wonderful piece of copper. It’s been well-restored to give it a nice fresh tin lining without abrading away any of the character.

 

As a matter of fact I’m cooking dinner for some guests tonight and I think this would be perfect for it. Always a pleasure to get these lovely things working, as they long to do.