I’ve pulled some information together into an ongoing Buyer’s Guide geared towards helping you evaluate vintage copper and decide what’s right for you. (Are you a copper seller? I have a few tips for you, too.)

Start here!

I’ve put together some pages that I hope can help get you started.

• Frequently Asked Questions about vintage copper — why I think it’s special, why it’s lined with tin, what it’s like to use and cook with it…
• Identification for some tips on how to figure out who made a piece of vintage copper (and when!)
• Advice for suggestions on how to use and care for your vintage copper

Field Guides

These field guides give some history of some of the notable makers of vintage copper with lots of photos of the pots and pans they made.

• Field guide to Dehillerin
• Field guide to Gaillard
• Field guide to Havard
• Field guide to Jacquotot
• Field guide to Lecellier
• Field guide to Matfer
• Field guide to Mauviel
• Field guide to Peter Brux
• Field guide to Pommier

(For a quick crash course in the eras of coppersmithing as I see them, please check out Antique vs vintage vs modern.)

Linings

Copper pans for general cooking can be lined with tin, stainless steel, nickel, or aluminum, and here’s some basic information about these options.

• Tin is my preferred lining.
• For a period of time in the 1970s to 1990s, French makers used the terms Cupretam, Cuprinox, and Cupronil to refer to copper with different linings.
• Stainless-steel lined pans were made with three different interior finishes.
• It can be tricky to distinguish stainless-lined from nickel-lined pans, so here are some suggestions.

Buying copper online

I’ve bought all my copper pots and pans online and I’ve learned a lot in the process.

• See Where I buy copper to learn the online sellers I can recommend to you.
• My buying mistakes has some lessons learned about this process.
• My Reference: Measurements, weight, and thickness tables can help you estimate the thickness of a copper pan by comparing it to others I’ve measured.
• Online sellers must pack pans carefully or they’ll arrive damaged. I have two posts on shipping boxes I have known — the good and the bad —  plus a step-by-step unpacking of a very well-packed pan.
• You will have to decide whether the pan you’re buying needs retinning. Here’s how I decide whether to retin or not.

My opinions

I’ve formed some opinions about specific brands of copper.

• Counting Mauviel’s rivets
• My problems with Baumalu
• Questionable “Gaillard Paris” items resurface
• Sorry, Soy Türkiye, you’re not getting any more of my money.
• The demise of Mauviel’s cast iron handles

History

Above all, I love learning how copper pots and pans were made and about the people who made them.

• An interview with Jules Gouffé
• Antique vs. vintage vs. modern
• Copper by hand: Historical poêlerie in Villedieu
• Mauviel’s Masterpieces: Copper at the Grands Magasins Du Louvre, Paris.
• Nickel, the “perfect metal”
• The copper renaissance in Villedieu
• The importance of being Ernest Mauviel

Grab bag

You may find these posts useful as you learn about copper and build your collection.

• Know your copper cookware construction
• Measuring copper thickness
• Rondeau, stewpot, soup pot, stockpot… how to tell the difference

Full list of Buyer’s Guide posts

Alternatively, here’s a full listing of all the posts in the Buyer’s Guide category, ordered alphabetically.

• An interview with Jules Gouffé
• Antique vs. vintage vs. modern
• Calling all copper detectives…
• Copper by hand: Historical poêlerie in Villedieu
• Copper from the great Parisian department stores
• Counting Mauviel’s rivets
• Cupretam, Cuprinox, and Cupronil
• Forged, wrought, cast
• Have I been fooled? (Solved!)
• Help needed!
• How to tell nickel from stainless
• Interior finishes on stainless-lined pans
• Know your copper cookware construction
• Mauviel’s Masterpieces: Copper at the Grands Magasins Du Louvre, Paris.
• Measuring copper thickness