This is one of the best Hammered Copper Pot with Dovetail Joints and Braded Handle that I have ever sold. Very unusual shape and the joints are obvious on the bottom and side. Pot measures 7.25” in diameter not including handle and is 3.5” deep. A little History: Hollowware has to be produced as a three-dimensional vessel from flat sheet since neither casting nor hot forging are usually economic options during the early days. Methods have developed significantly through the centuries and these are generally obvious in the finished product. Initially, the basic need is to form the sidewalls and join them to a base. Spouts, handles and lids are fitted as needed. Traditional techniques involve cutting out copper sheet to form the sidewall, forming it to cylindrical shape and making a joint. A brazed butt joint is not strong enough so an overlap must be used to give a bigger contact area for the join. A simple overlap is still not strong enough to take a battering in service, so the coppersmith’s technique is to make what appears to be a ‘cramped’, ‘dovetailed’ or ‘castellated’ joint. This involves forming a feathering by hammering the edges of the sheet to about half their original thickness and then cutting slits at right angles to the edge. These are bent out alternately and mated with the edge to be joined. The flaps are then hammered close to give a good friction fit that can be sealed by brazing or silver-soldering. Note that the description ‘Dovetailing’ gives a joint of different type to that found with wood. The ‘dovetails’ are not keyed together right through the joint as for wood but overlapped and cramped as described. Coppersmiths much prefer to describe the joint as ‘cramped’. Final finishing is by planishing the joint surface flat, so that it is the same thickness as the parent metal sheet. Normally, any handles or spouts are positioned to hide much of the sidewall joint. To fit the base to the sidewalls with good quality smooth joints it is necessary to either bend up the circular base to fit the sidewall or bend the sidewall under to allow the base to be let in. The second technique keeps the brazed joint out of sight under the vessel. These methods were used commercially in Europe and America until around 1900.

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