The Coppersmith @museum.de

Next, we're heading way into the distant past, because the art of the coppersmith goes back thousands of years! Copper was one of the first metals to be processed, and the earliest copper objects were made during the Neolithic period – in what's known as the "Copper Age". Ötzi the Iceman, who died more than 5,000 years ago and was rediscovered as a glacier mummy just over 30 years ago, was carrying an axe with – perhaps you know this – a copper blade. A priceless treasure back then!

The Neolithic was followed by the Bronze Age. And anyone who paid attention in chemistry lessons knows that bronze is an alloy made of several molten metals mixed together... though the lion's share is copper.

The Assyrians also mastered the art of working copper, and the Greeks later perfected the craft. But pure copper was soon replaced by harder, sturdier and more corrosion-resistant alloys such as brass or the various bronzes.

So the art of the coppersmith is one of the oldest manual trades of all. And the coppersmith's range of skills is impressive, then as now. In the past, a coppersmith would have made pots and pans for use in the kitchen as well as vessels for factories and breweries. That's why a coppersmith was sometimes known as a boilermaker. Even now, it's a vital trade, especially here in beer-loving Bavaria! No brewery, no distillery can do without the equipment it produces: brewing coppers and stills. Both are bread-and-butter projects for coppersmiths, though these days, those working in the trade tend to be known (in Germany at least) as "Behälter- und Apparatebauer" – container (or tank) and apparatus engineers.

But it's not all about beer or spirits! The coppersmith often had the soul of an artisan, if not an artist. From weapons via jewellery, figurines and statues to ornaments and reliefs – nothing was too difficult for the coppersmith.

Perhaps you'd like to hear how an encyclopaedia described this traditional profession 1834? I quote:

The work of the coppersmiths is very varied. As well as toiling in their workshop, they also work on towers, domes and in palaces, which they roof over with sheets of copper. They furnish the buildings with copper gutters and pipes. Copper roofing is considered the most durable compared to all other varieties. They also make large brew pans, some of which weigh 30 to 40 hundredweights; even coffins have been made of copper. In well-run kitchens, it is a pleasure to observe the [...] brightly scoured water butts, supports, [...] tubs, fish-kettles, wash-basins and kettles for fresh water, the handsome basins and cake-tins [...], the sturdy candlesticks and lamps and many more utensils fashioned of copper.

So a coppersmith was a real jack-of-all-trades and still is today! It is no coincidence that the medieval guild sign features two lions rampant as supporters, bearing a shield with a copper kettle.