This is another profession highlighted in the “For the Youth 1987” series of stamps released by Germany on 9.4.1987. This profession is as old as the desire of the people to enjoy the juice of the fruits harvested by him, be stored in suitable containers.
A Cooper is a person who makes or repairs casks, barrels, etc. Traditionally, a Cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads as shown on this card. Examples of a cooper's work include but are not limited to casks, barrels, buckets, tubs, butter churns, hogsheads, firkins, tierces, rundlets, puncheons, pipes, tuns, butts, pins and breakers.
The word is derived from Middle Dutch kūpe "basket, wood, tub" and may ultimately stem from cupa, the Latin word for vat. Everything a cooper produces is referred to collectively as cooperage. A cask is any piece of cooperage containing a bouge, bilge, or bulge in the middle of the container. A barrel is technically a measure of the size of a cask, so the term "barrel-maker" cannot be used synonymously with "cooper." The facility in which casks are made is also referred to as a cooperage.
Thank you Maria for this interesting card.
