1950s Butter Press in Original Case - Coquillor

"A butter press was THE wedding gift in the 1950s," Patricia recalls — and this one, from her Paris apartment, retains its original Coquillor presentation box. The press itself is a shallow, domed disc of polished silver-toned metal, its broad rim pierced with a repeating geometric border of small triangles and arches. The interior face is set with raised cutouts — flower shapes, elongated ovals and small triangles — through which softened butter is pressed to emerge in neatly formed curls. The whole piece sits nestled in ivory satin inside a cream card box, the lid printed with a period illustration of two hands pressing the device and the original French instructions below: remove the base, fill the hollow upper tray halfway with butter, replace it on the stand and press gently on the rim. The butter presents itself, the copy promises, in gracefully cut shells. Tool, packaging and instructions all intact — a beautifully complete find. Patricia is clear that using it is genuinely satisfying: press down, and the butter curls cleanly through the cutouts, softened just enough to spread easily. At a Paris table set for guests, this would have been a small, considered gesture — the kind of detail that signals care without effort. It works just as well today, brought out for a dinner party alongside a good baguette, or displayed on a kitchen shelf as a piece of mid-century French domestic design that still does exactly what it was made to do.