A ‘Chippendale’ Folding Card or Tea Table in Mahogany - A Sheraton Period Satinwood Card Table - Regency Card Table

A ‘Chippendale’ folding card or tea table in mahogany with moulded square legs, serpentine front and elegantly shaped frieze, c.1760-70. Tables of this kind are always higher in value if of the ‘tea’ type, i.e. with solid wood surface on the interior, rather than ‘card’ type with a baize interior.
A very fine quality Chippendale card table c.1770. The edge of the frieze is gadrooned and this effect is followed down the corner edges of the legs. C
The edge of the top is also carved. The wood is mahogany. The legs are chamfered on the inside.
Later Georgian side table of c.1760. The ‘Chippendale’ straight chamfered leg has replaced the earlier pad feet. The top edge still shows a variant of the thumb-nail moulding but is heavier. As well as being chamfered on the inside the legs show a ’scratch’ moulding down the front corner, as seen on chairs, to give a further lightness to the effect. By now, the lock rail is evident under the top and the drawer thus comes below this.
Country versions might still omit the lock rail however and have pegged tenon joints.
A Chippendale mahogany card table, c.1760 with a green baize lined folding top. The edges, frieze and square chamfered legs are fretted in
the Chinese manner, which inexplicably makes this normally rather underpriced piece of furniture double its value.
N.B. Without this fretwork a plain card table of this type is now 50 The ‘tea’ version with polished interior is 60  70.
Later Georgian c.1770 side table similar to the previous example, with elm top and fruitwood legs. Note there is no lock rail under the top. The square Chippendale style legs are chamfered at the back and the front
corners
have the scratch moulding down the edge to lighten them. The drawer front is elm.
A George III, c.1765, country solid walnut side table on tapering legs ending in pad feet. The flap is supported when open by a gate leg. The top and flap are made of several planks.
A Sheraton period (1790 - 1800) satinwood card table cross-banded with rosewood. Note the tapering legs and the medal set in the top panel of the leg.
Value points: Satinwood
A Sheraton period (1790 - 1800) mahogany card table cross-banded with satinwood. Note again the oval medals at the top of the tapering legs and the inlaid stringing lines.
It is to be noted that a pair of identical tables causes the individual piece to be more than doubled. Thus a pair of such tables would be in the 600-700 range.
A mahogany circular folding table of c.1790 with Hepplewhite-cumSheraton influence in the design. A type which could be used as a games or tea table, the latter usually being claimed when the inside is not lined with baize but veneered in the manner of the outside. The stringing lines add considerable elegance as do the oval medallions in the panels at the top of each leg, which ends in a spade foot.
Value, points: Matched figuring of mahogany and stringing …
A George III satinwood and marquetry card table, c.1790, with a folding circular top, cross-banded with rosewood. The inlay consists of urns and flower festoons within a meandering band of anthemion and the frieze is similarly inlaid. The square tapering collared legs with the oval medallions at the top are of a kind generally associated with Shereton designs. These tables were frequently made in pairs.
It would be difficult to find more highly valued tables of this period.
Value points: Quality of decoration .. N.B. Inferior Edwardian copies abound.
A Sheraton period (1790 - 1800) mahogany serpentine fronted side table on tapering legs. An elegant design with interesting enlargement of the
square section added as ornamentation near the bottom of legs.
A mahogany card table of c.1800 in figured veneer with square tapering legs, ending in spade feet. There is a simple boxwood stringing line around the top edges and the frieze which is repeated around the spade foot
top. It is covered in baize inside and is not quite circular when open, although not exaggeratedly oval. Circularity is an important value point, however. This table has the advantage of a double gate, i.e. both back legs open Outwards to support the folding top when open.
Decorative inlays  Satinwood
A fairly typical plain mahogany card table of late Regency or early Victorian period, probably c.1840. The centre pedestal can be either circular in section, often of gunbarrel appearance, or octagonal, and the base
usually reflects this in design. The top swivels and opens to form a baize-lined square surface.
Value points: Rosewood
Figured woods and inlays
Regency period mahogany card table, c.1820, on turned centre column. The hinged folding top pivots on the frame which forms the frieze to provide support when open. Note the fluted square leg forms.
A fairly typical Regency card table of c.1830 on a turned centre pedestal supported by four sabre legs. The fold-over top has a beaded edge moulding and swivels about the centre to allow support from the underframe when open. Inside there is a green baize covering.
Value points: Rosewood  Brass inlays ..
A Regency period  c.1820  rosewood card table, with inlaid stringing and bead-moulded edge decoration. For some reason the semi-elliptical hoop support under the top and above the centre pedestal attracts a higher
price from dealers than other types. A sofa table with a similar support is illustrated in the relevant section. Although the craftsmanship involved in executing this design is undoubtedly high, the overall effect is to
produce a confusion of styles and a weakness of support.
Value points: Rosewood  Brass stringing  Original casters the circular and oval
A Victorian folding walnut card-table, c.1845. Like dining tables of the period, it is thinly veneered in burr walnut and inlaid with marquetry patterns. The base is quite elaborately carved. Inside the
surface is lined with baize.
A late Regency rosewood card table of c.1830. The top is inlaid with a brass border line and swivels across its underframing, which supports it when open. Bead moulding doubly decorates the frieze and the top edge of the base. It is an example of the revived rococo and conflicting designs of the period: paw feet; leaf decoration; turned, reeded and carved column; and a kind of cabochon-and-leaf corner decoration to the frieze, which is also concave.

A William and Mary Period Side Table - Mid-seventeenth Century Oak Side table - A William III Walnut Card Table

Probably one of the most collected forms of antique furniture is the occasional side table which is both decorative and sometimes functional. Early forms of side table of the seventeenth century are perhaps a little too heavy, being mainly made of oak in ponderous design, but from the late seventeenth century onwards many delightful forms of games and side tables in prevailing fashions were produced.
Value points: The common value points for examples illustrated are:
1. Top Surface. The first thing to strike the eye is usually the condition, patina and decorative figuring or inlays of the top surface. The more perfect and decorative this surface is, the more the .. rating will apply.
2. Structural Condition. This must again be good, particularly where folding tables are concerned. The Georgian and Regency card tables usually had side hinges to the folding top and these are often the cause of
damage, leading to unsightly patching, replacement and alteration. The legs and stretchers, if applicable, must be sound.
3. Legs. Depending on the period, the design and always the proportion of the legs must constitute a very important factor in the assessment of a side or games table. Carving on cabrioles, or moulding of straight legs, affects value. Legs are, of course, always liable to damage and their originality with the above points, constitutes an  factor.
4. Handles. Where a drawer or drawers are involved, original period handles constitute a  factor.
5. Shape. Later Georgian folding card tables on tapering square legs in designs generally associated with Hepplewhite and Sheraton are affected by an important factor: the shape of the top. If this is circular when
open, i.e. half round when shut, a .. factor may be assumed. Tables which are oval, or with geometrical straight sides do not attract as high a price. On these tables cross-banding of the square tapering legs constitutes a  factor.
A William and Mary period side table, c.1690, of a type generally found in walnut, but also frequently decorated with marquetry. The serpentine X stretcher is also found on earlier tables, but the inverted   form on the turned legs is more generally associated with William who brought over Dutch craftsmen from whom this form originates. The legs would be in solid walnut whereas the top, sides, drawer front and stretcher would be veneered.
Walnut side table of the post ‘Restoration’ period, c.1680. The twist turning so popular to the Restoration period continued to be used on the legs and stretchers of tables though simple turning still persisted. Walnut was by far the most favourite wood though oak by no means went out of use. While the legs and bun feet are solid walnut, the top and drawer fronts are veneered. The veneered stretcher is ‘Y’ shaped at each end, connected by an oval widening  intended for a bowl. It is more
common to have one drawer only and the best examples would be inlaid with marquetry panels.
Marquetry - Walnut - Oak
Mid-seventeenth century oak side table, c.1650, with two drawers in the frieze. Note the panelled shape of the drawer fronts, reminiscent of
chests of drawers of the period. The turned legs and square stretchers are still retained.
A solid walnut side table of William and Mary period, c.1690, with arched shaping of the frieze below the drawer. The X-shaped stretcher is well illustrated and the heavy turning and bun feet are typical. Note the
thumb-nail top edge moulding.
Value points: Proportion and quality of leg turning  Shaping of frieze
Country side table in fruitwood of William and Mary period. The baluster turning of the legs shows later characteristics but the country maker has retained the square stretchers and construction from an earlier period.
Note the drawer fitting tight under the lock rail and the square, pegged tenon joints. This type of table was made well on into the late eight= eenth century.
Small oak side table, c.1675. The simple column turning of the legs and the stretchers is of the same type as the gate-leg table illustrated earlier. The top is fixed to the framing with oak dowel pegs. The two drawers fit tight under the top without a lock rail in the framing. Note that there are now simple bun-like feet under the square leg-stretcher joints, which lift the stretchers slightly higher off the floor. On original undisturbed
pieces the dowels protrude above the level of the surface (stand proud).
A William III side table, c.1700, inlaid with seaweed marquetry. The thumb-nail moulding is ebonised. The double-scroll legs of square secticn are particular to this period and not to everyone’s taste, but the stretcher form and flat bun feet are typical. Seaweed marquetry of this quality demanded a high degree of skill and such pieces are increasingly rare.
Quality and area of decoration
A William III Walnut Card Table, c.1700, the oval folding top veneered outside and inside with burr-walnut, cross banded and with herringbone lines, the shaped frieze with three small drawers, on six tapering
octagonal legs including two rear gate-legs, united by stretchers, and with turned feet.

TABLES  Architects
Antique Architects tables are rather specialised pieces and were produced for professional use and seem to have been very solidly constructed perhaps, as Cescinsky suggests, because the ledgers architects used were so heavy and it was useful to have a means of inclining them to a more convenient position.
This well-fitted architect’s table is in mahogany. It has castors on all six turned legs which, as can be seen, are masked by rather ugly straight false legs. It has brass candlestands and a side drawer. The front pulls out to form a convenient writing table. The date is suggested by the indented corner mouldings. c. 1740s
A lighter architect’s table in mahogany, without pillars, shown with the front open.
This mahogany architect’s table with candlestands and on square legs makes an interesting comparison with the previous example. The inner legs show the columns inside with castors which are said to give greater stablility. The side drawer is missing.
Another type of architect’s table, with fitted drawers, on castors.