Antique Oval Copper Tub With Wooden Handles from Wisconsin 27¼"

From Patricia's collection comes this substantial antique copper boiler, sourced from Wisconsin. Oval in form and generous in scale, it has a warm, burnished exterior deepened by a timeworn patina, its body encircled by neat horizontal ribbing that is both structural and decorative. The interior is tin-lined, its silvery surface a pleasing contrast to the deep amber of the copper outside, while dark turned wooden handles, mounted on either side with riveted brackets, make the whole thing practical to lift even when loaded. Patricia bought it decades ago, and her reasoning was straightforward. "I figured because it was Wisconsin, it was good for filling with ice and beer," she recalls with a laugh — and so it was. Heaped with ice and cold bottles at parties, it did exactly what a vessel this sturdy and generous was always meant to do. Planted with herbs, topiary or seasonal bulbs, it would be equally striking indoors or out. This is the kind of object that earns its place not through delicacy but through character, scale and the particular warmth that only old copper can bring to a room.