Copper Candy Pot
Antique Late 19th Century French Platters and Serveware
Copper, Iron
Antique Early 1900s Bauhaus Decorative Boxes
Copper
Recent Sales
Mid-20th Century Turkish Planters and Jardinieres
Copper
Materials: Copper Furniture
From cupolas to cookware and fine art to filaments, copper metal has been used in so many ways since prehistoric times. Today, antique, new and vintage copper coffee tables, mirrors, lamps and other furniture and decor can bring a warm metallic flourish to interiors of any kind.
In years spanning 8,700 BC (the time of the first-known copper pendant) until roughly 3,700 BC, it may have been the only metal people knew how to manipulate.
Valuable deposits of copper were first extracted on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus around 4,000 BC — well before Europe’s actual Bronze Age (copper + tin = bronze). Tiny Cyprus is even credited with supplying all of Egypt and the Near East with copper for the production of sophisticated currency, weaponry, jewelry and decorative items.
In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, master painters such as Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Rembrandt and Jan Brueghel created fine works on copper. (Back then, copper-based pigments, too, were all the rage.) By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, decorative items like bas-relief plaques, trays and jewelry produced during the Art Deco, Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau periods espoused copper. These became highly valuable and collectible pieces and remain so today.
Copper’s beauty, malleability, conductivity and versatility make it perhaps the most coveted nonprecious metal in existence. In interiors, polished copper begets an understated luxuriousness, and its reflectivity casts bright, golden and earthy warmth seldom realized in brass or bronze. (Just ask Tom Dixon.)
Outdoors, its most celebrated attribute — the verdigris patina it slowly develops from exposure to oxygen and other elements — isn’t the only hue it takes. Architects often refer to shades of copper as russet, ebony, plum and even chocolate brown. And Frank Lloyd Wright, Renzo Piano and Michael Graves have each used copper in their building projects.
Find antique, new and vintage copper furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022To clean Turkish copper pots, apply coarse salt to half of a lemon and rub all over. Then, rinse with warm water and dry with a soft towel. Alternatively, you can cover the pots with a paste made of lemon juice and baking soda, allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes and then rinse and dry as previously described. On 1stDibs, shop a range of Turkish copper ware.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Turkish coffee pots are usually copper due to the properties of the metal. Copper efficiently conducts heat, helping coffee to brew faster and keeping the liquid hotter for longer. On 1stDibs, you can shop a selection of antique coffee pots.
- Are copper coffee pots safe?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Opinions on whether or not copper coffee pots are safe vary. Some experts raise concerns over the use of copper vessels and recommend that you only use ones lined with another metal like tin or aluminum. As a result, people may choose to use antique pots only as decorative objects. Shop a range of antique copper coffee pots on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Whether or not it is safe to cook in old copper pots is a matter of debate. Some experts caution against cooking in antique copper pots that do not feature some other type of metal as lining. This is because of concerns that excessive amounts of copper may leach into food. On 1stDibs, find a collection of antique copper pots.