ANTIQUE GAMING TABLE, MAHOGANY OVAL PEMBROKE TABLE, WRITING AND WORK TABLE, ANTIQUE SERVING TABLE, REGENCY STYLE MAHOGANY LIBRARY TABLES

A LARGE GEORGE III SEMI-CIRCULAR GAMING TABLE
with a baize-lined interior with six square tapering legs,
4ft. 5in. wide (135cm.) circa 1780.

A PAIR OF GEORGE III SEMI-CIRCULAR MAHOGANY CARD TABLES, the tops crossbanded in satinwood and each with a semi-circular shell medallion, the friezes set with oval paterae and

raised on square tapering legs with castors, 3ft. wide (92cm.) circa 1785, tops split.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY OVAL PEMBROKE TABLE,
with a satinwood banding and a tulipwood crossbanding,
the curved frieze with a drawer, on square tapering legs
with castors.

A GOOD AND LARGE GEORGE III SERPENTINE FRONTED DINING ROOM SIDE TABLE, the frieze centred by a panel carved with grape swags, raised on six circular tapering legs headed by

leaves and with bands and petals, the front four headed by grape swags, 3ft. 2in. high by 9ft. Vhin. wide by 4ft. deep (96cm. by 278cm. by 122cm.) circa 1785, originally with

brass gallery.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ‘D’-SHAPED SIDE TABLE
crossbanded in satinwood and with boxwood and ebony
stringing and a frieze drawer, on square tapering legs
and block feet, 2ft. 5V2in. high by 3ft. wide (75cm. by
91.5cm.) circa 1790.

A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY D-SHAPED BREAK-
FRONT CARD TABLES, the hinged top, with a baize-lined
interior, the frieze inlaid with boxwood stringing, on
square tapering legs, 2ft. 5in. high by 3ft. wide (74cm. by
92cm.)

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WRITING AND WORK
TABLE, with adjustable hinged leather top crossbanded
in kingwood with a slide and a dummy drawer in the
frieze, with a drawer at the side and a work bag, on
square tapering legs, 2ft. 5in. high by lft. Hin. (74cm. by
58.5cm.) circa 1790.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WRITING TABLE, the rectangular leather-lined top with outset rounded acanthus leaf-carved corners, the frieze with a pair of opposing drawers, on turned

tapered legs carved with acanthus leaves and a band of drapery, on brass castors, 2ft. 5Vzin. high by 4ft. 2′Mn. wide (75cm. by 128cm.) circa 1790.

AN ATTRACTIVE REGENCY PENWORK WORK TABLE, the top with an oval panel decorated with chinoiserie figures at an al fresco music party, with an anthemion border and flowered

surround, on two pairs of ringed legs with outcurved supports, 2ft. 4Y2in. high by lft. 9in. long (72cm. by 53cm.) circa 1800, originally with a slide.

A LATE GEORGE III OVAL MAHOGANY TABLE, the
top decorated in painted paper with flowers on a cream
ground with a frieze drawer at one side and raised on
slender turned tapering legs with turned X-stretchers,
2ft. 5V2in. high by 2ft. long (74cm. by 61cm.) circa 1800,
drawer now stopped.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SIDE TABLE, the rec-
tangular top with rounded corners and a frieze drawer,
on square tapering legs ending in spade feet, 2ft. 4in.
high by 2ft. Win. wide (71cm. by 86cm.) circa 1790,
originally a card table.

A SMALL JAPANESE LACQUER COFFER with domed
lid decorated with panels of flowers and a horse in shades
of gilt on black, lft. wide, late 18th Century/early 19th
Century; now raised on a Regency ebonised Table with
rectangular triple ‘bamboo’ cluster column pillar and
concave triangular platform table, 2ft. 2in. high by lft. 4in.
long (66cm. by 41cm.)

A REGENCY MAHOGANY CARD TABLE with hinged swivelling top, the frieze inlaid with stars and crescent moons, on two pilaster supports and concave base supported by downcurved

sabre legs and castors, 2ft. 5lhin. high by 3ft. zoide (75cm. by 91.5cm.) circa 1820.

A PAIR OF LATE GEORGE III MAHOGANY CARD
TABLES of rectangular form and with rounded corners,
raised on elegant circular tapering legs with shaped
collars and feet, 2ft. lOin. wide (87cm.) circa 1805.

A REGENCY CONCAVE-FRONTED MAHOGANY SERVING TABLE with a boldly reeded edge, the front with string-ing and a central panel applied with a brass anthemion mount, raised on

circular tapering reeded legs, the front two headed by anthemion panels en suite with the frieze panel, 3ft. high by 6ft. 6in. wide (92cm. by 198cm.) circa 1810.

A LATE GEORGE III SEWING TABLE, the rectangular top with a moulded edge and a shallow drawer fitted with divisions above a double long drawer and bag frame, on turned tapering

legs and brass castors, 2ft. 6in. high by lft. lOin. wide (77.5cm. by 56cm.) circa 1810.

A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY PEMBROKE TABLE, the top with rounded corners and crossbanded in satinwood, with two frieze drawers and slender turned legs, lft. 8in. long by 2ft. Vkin.

open (51cm. by 64cm.) circa 1815.

A GEORGE IV OVAL MAHOGANY DINING TABLE, the hinged top with a reeded edge and raised on a turned pillar and four moulded downcurved legs, 3ft. 9′Mn. wide by 4ft. 3in. long

(116cm. by 130cm.) circa 1820.

A GEORGE IV GILTWOOD CENTRE TABLE with
rectangular top, the frieze carved with guilloche and
flowerheads, on heavy cabriole legs carved with
palmettes and flowering branches and ending in paw
feet, 2ft. 6in. high by 3ft. 7in. wide (77cm. by 109cm.)
circa 1820, constructed from a pair of side tables, black
marbletop.

A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY DROP-LEAF TABLE, with
reeded edge and rounded corners and simple turned legs,
3ft. 3in. wide by 4ft. 5in. open (99cm. by 135cm.) circa
1820.

A MAHOGANY SOFA TABLE with canted corners, two dummy and two real drawers, on later ring-turned frame and downcurved legs, 2ft. 4′/2in. high by 5ft. 2V2in. wide (72cm. by

159cm.) part early 19th Century.

A LATE REGENCY MAHOGANY SOFA TABLE, cross-
banded in rosewood and inlaid with boxwood stringing,
with two real and two dummy drawers, on lyre supports
joined by a serpentine stretcher, on downcurved sabre
legs and brass castors, 2ft. 4V2in. high by 5ft. l’Ain, wide
(72cm. by 156cm.) circa 1820.

A PAIR OF REGENCY ROSEWOOD CARD TABLES, the
swivelling baize-lined tops with rounded corners and
inlaid with brass stringing, over the similarly inlaid
frieze centred by a rectangular brass moulded panel, the
simulated rosewood acanthus-leaf carved baluster stem,
brass inlaid and on down-swept legs ending in castors,
circa 1815.

A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY TWO PEDESTAL DINING
TABLE of unusual form, each rectangular end with a
drawer and a flap raised on a turned pillar, the concave-
sided rectangular platform on four canted scrolled legs,
3ft. 5in. wide by 4ft. Hin. fully extended (104cm. by 105cm.)
circa 1820.

A PAIR OF WILLIAM IV ROSEWOOD-VENEERED CARD
TABLES, each swivelling rectangular top with rounded
corners and a burr-yew banding, the friezes and square
pillars outlined with bead mouldings, and raised on a
concave-sided square base with burr-elm scroll feet,
3ft. wide (91cm.) circa 1830.

A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY SOFA TABLE of good
colour, and the top with rounded corners crossbanded
in rosewood with a frieze drawer and a pillar on a concave-
sided rectangular base with hipped cabriole legs, outlined
throughout with narrow bead mouldings, 4ft. TMn. open
(141cm.) circa 1825.

A PAIR OF REGENCY STYLE MAHOGANY LIBRARY TABLES in the manner of Thomas Hope, each baize-lined top with canted corners and hinged bookrest, with three frieze drawers at the

front and back and circular tapering reeded legs with ebonised paw feet headed by metal puma ring handles, 5ft. wide (152cm.).

A REGENCY MAHOGANY SOFA, the moulded frame with over-scrolled ends of equal height, the seatrail set with three diagonally reeded panels raised on sabre legs, 6ft. 4in. long

(193cm.) circa 1820, possibly Scottish.

A WILLIAM IV ROSEWOOD AND MAHOGANY WORK TABLE, the rectangular hinged top with solid gallery and canted corners, above one dummy and one real bead-decorated frieze drawer and an

upholstered work-bag beneath, the acanthus leaf carved end standard supports supported by double eagle head scrolls to a platform support and acanthus leaf-carved eagle heads,

2ft. 5′Mn. high by lft. 9in. wide (75cm. by 53cm.) circa 1835.

A WILLIAM IV ROSEWOOD-VENEERED CARD TABLE,
the swivelling top with rounded corners above a panelled
frieze, raised on a pillar, the leaf-carved base on a concave
rectangular platform and four scroll and paw-carved feet,
2ft. lVhin. wide (90cm.) circa 1825.

A GEORGE I WALNUT KNEEHOLE WRITING TABLE
with a rectangular top, a drawer in the frieze above the
kneehole which contains a shallow drawer and recessed
cupboard, with three drawers in each pedestal, 2ft. 7in.
high by 2ft. 7in. wide (79cm. by 79cm.) circa 1725, top and
bracket feet replaced.

TABLES  dining, early gateleg
Examples exist from the early part of the seventeenth century but they did not come into general use until the middle of the century, when dining at small tables became common, not only in the homes of the middle classes, but even the large houses.
The value of a gateleg today is greatly influenced by the number of people it can seat; the quality of the turnings and the type of wood being the other factors. To seat a large number of people, the middle section has to be wide as well as long, as the height of the table limits the drop of the flaps. Apart from new tops, these tables sometimes suffer damage to the ends of the flaps and have to be retipped. This used to be unacceptable to purists but now only affects the price very marginally.
Square gateleg tables also exist, but since they are harder to sell the prices are lower.
An early oak gateleg table with good patination. Note the very thick top and the fact that all the underneath members (except the top of the gates which have to fit flush) are turned with a superb bold extended bobbin and rim. Probably a ten seater. Walnut more valuable. c. 1650
This table shows two gates to each side, which is an attractive method of supporting large flaps. The arrangement of two centre stretchers giving support for the four legs is a good feature, as is the fact that all the members are spirally turned with thick bold turnings. Has the left-hand flap been cut down -the leg looks too near the edge, see previous example. Could have had rectangular flaps cut to the more popular oval shag. The price is based on the assumption that the flap has not been cut and that the table is an eight seater.
Again double gates and the turning all over and of good quality, but the table is smaller and does not have the style of the previous example. Late 17th century
The type of table one sees regularly. The classic early eighteenth century single gateleg table in elm. Despite the number of legs, immensely useful as it occupies so little  space when not in use. c. 1720
A simple four seater gateleg table with quite good if uninspired turnings. Too many planks make up the top and too many nail holes in the middle section, which should in any event be pegged. Could the top be newly made out of old floor boards Despite this, quite a pleasant table. Note the circular white marks on the underside of the far flap where the leg has scraped it. One of the signs that the top could be original. c. 1730
Note that the turnings on the uprights are very similar to the previous table, but in this better quality photograph one can see the fine turned pieces and the restrained baluster form. This is a fruitwood table and one can see something of the warm glow that the piece exudes. This makes it expensive even though single gate and seating six.

Sofa table

Sofa tables belong to the last decade of the eighteenth century and the first two of the nineteenth, after which they became ‘occasional tables’ without a specific function. They were originally designed for writing or playing games while people sat on a sofa, and as such were usually at least 5 ft long, sometimes as much as 6 ft, and no more than 2 ft 6 in high and 22-24 in wide.
Bearing in mind their function, it is obvious that the extra flaps are extensions of length rather than width, since a flap on the sofa side of the table would make it very uncomfortable for anyone to sit at. In order to give as much legroom as possible, they were of cheval construction, with two end bearers, rather in the manner of the old X-frame trestle table, solidly made and correctly balanced so that they did not sway from side to side. In some, a central stretcher helped stability.
By c.1810, sofa tables were made on the central pillar-and-claw design, usually more ornate, and often with brass stringing inset as decoration on legs and plinth as  well as on drawers and surfaces.
Early sofa tables had fairly deep drawers on one full length and matching dummy drawer on each side. Often, drawers were fitted with compartments for games and writing materials. In the later period, c.1820, drawers became shallower as sofa tables began to lose their identity and became merely decorative.
Early versions were not very robust, being intended only for genteel use, and it is uncommon to find one without any repair or restoration.
Signs of authenticity
1. Thick, fine veneers on close-grained red pine or Honduras mahogany.
2. Drawers oak-lined, not pine.
3. Undersides of flap plain veneered – visible when not raised.
4. If with locks, steel levers to brass locks and lock casings –brass levers are post-1840.
5. Two fly brackets to each flap.
6. Three ‘knuckles’ or hinges to each bracket.
7. Underframe frieze inset to take width of closed brackets, allowing flaps to fall flush with cheval supports.
8. Sham drawers on either side to real drawers.
9. Grain running across width, not down length of table.
10. No escutcheons to locks (if fitted) but simple rim escutcheons with rounded bottoms. Squared bottoms to rim escutcheons are post-1840.
11. Cross-cut veneer to edge of tables.
12. Often, cast brass, turned, circular, flat knobs to drawers or lion’s masks with rings.
Likely restoration and repair
13. Cheval supports broken, replaced with central pillar support taken from damaged piece of same period.
14. Cheaper cheval supports taken from mass-produced sofa tables of same period, usually not as long, added to a high quality top. Marks of original bearers, screw-holes, chevals set in too close.
15. Made-up cheval supports from Victorian cheval mirrors. Holes where mirror pivoted, usually in square block in cheval, concealed by a rosette or other decoration, where it has been plugged and stained.
16. If both drawers are on the same side, indicates a recent addition.
17. Veneered in pinkish-coloured birch. Cheap Victorian substitute for satinwood, with wavy grain instead of straight or figured.
18. Grain running length of table suggests new top with suitable inlay made up from larger piece of period furniture.
Sofa tables were made with two different constructions: the cheval and the central pillar support. The cheval type had solid supports dividing into two splayed legs, and was made with or without stretchers. The central pillar-supports often incorporated a half-circle resting on a central plinth with up-curving flattened splayed legs, frequently terminating in lion’s paw feet or square box castors with horizontal fittings.
They were made in a wide variety of woods and veneers: rosewood, mahogany and ‘black’ walnut. There were two drawers, side by side in the width of the table, one sham the other real.
The correct proportions are quite large: 5-6 ft long with the flaps extended, 22-24 in wide and approximately 2 ft 6 in in height. The overall shape is definitely long, lean and sleek, with minimal overhang on either side. When the flaps are down they fall flush with the side supports. The legs splay out in a flattened curve so that they can be pulled close to the sofa, with the legs sliding a little way beneath.
Variations
Sofas were not part of the furnishings of smaller agricultural homes until the age of sprung furniture some time after c.1830. Country versions of the card table fulfilled the same function as a sofa table for writing and playing games. Contemporary, cheaper versions were made, in machine-cut woods, mass-produced with thin veneer and poor quality materials, usually shorter in length than high-quality versions.
Legs of chevals in provincial sofa tables tend to be heavy, or
Detail
Early sofa tables resemble writing furniture more than ornamental pieces, and share their smooth, plain surfaces rather than the more elaborate inlays which might lift and catch on soft fabrics of sleeves and cuffs. Simple decoration, such as cross-banded borders, continued on to the flaps, and some fine examples have fly brackets set at the edge of the frieze so that, when opened, the design carries on from the frieze to the ends of the brackets.
From c.1810 they are found in many veneers, including satinwood, light Cuban mahogany, laburnum, zebrawood, amboyna and rosewood. Between 1810 and 1820 brass inlay was very popular, and from c.1815 the fashionable design of the lyre was incorporated, and lyre-ended tables were made with brass rods to simulate harp strings.
machine-cut with decoration on outer ,surface of chevals only, strengthened with stretchers. Legs would often be chamfered to join the upright, then screwed, glued and clamped before being veneered over the joint to look as though they are correctly made.
The basic idea of a narrow all-purpose drawing table has been used in many variations since sofa tables were first designed by Thomas Sheraton and his contemporaries.
Reproductions
The period of the sofa table’s popularity comes within the age of mass-manufactured furniture. These tables were more often made in cheaper materials, and of meaner proportions for provincial homes, rather than as country pieces. After c.1850 many unattractive versions of long occasional tables were made all over the country, many of them with side-flaps rather than end flaps. Taller versions were used in libraries behind high-backed Victorian and Edwardian settees and sofas for trays of drinks, etc.
In the 1950s a proliferation of copies of the lyre-ended design flooded the market, but since they went out of fashion they have not been seen around in very large numbers.
Price bands
Top-quality Regency, without stretcher, mahogany,
£7,000 + .
Finely veneered satinwood, c.1810, £4,500 5,500.
Central support, fine quality, c.1810, £3,500-4,500.
Rosewood or walnut, fine quality, with stretcher, c.1830, 12,000 3,000.
Poorer quality veneered, £600-900.
Left: turned stretcher and cheval legs have probably been added. Centre: superb early Regency Thomas Hope design.
Below right: fine, early nineteenth-century, on central support with inlaid brass decoration.

Sutherland table

These slim, practical folding tables were reputedly named after Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria during the early decades of her long reign. The combination of a cheval-type construction and gate-leg is far more successful and elegant than it sounds and they are among the few really successful designs of the Victorian period.
The top of a Sutherland is so narrow that it is able to stand against a wall without taking up much space, yet when the flaps are up and supported on two swinging gate legs, it is large enough for a small supper or breakfast table. The frame is almost like a heavy Victorian clothes horse in construction: one or two slim baluster-turned uprights join a simple frieze below the table top. On the best, the gate legs tuck in beside the bracket foot. Others have half-gates with two legs swinging closed in the centre on either side of the central stretcher.
Sutherland tables were such strong little work horses that many of them have only survived in a dilapidated state and some of the more decorative, with slim bands of contrasting veneer, have been broken up to make the tops of questionable pairs of card tables.
Signs of authenticity
1. Undersides of flaps with scoremarks, pronounced where top of gate leg has been swung out and back.
2. Good patination on undersides of end overhang where it has been frequently lifted and moved.
3. Dark, glossy woods with very little decoration.
4. Cheval construction stoutly made with well-turned, simple decoration.
5. Splay of legs compact, not sprawling.
6. Solidly made underframe of mahogany or oak, to withstand hard use.
7. Flaps falling to correct height, just above curve of bracket, to show an inch or two of leg.
8. Good patination under flaps where they have been continuously handled.
Likely restoration and repair
9. Edge of flap split with weight of flaps and constant use. The repair likely to split again with the weight of the flaps after some use.
10. Repairs to join on edge of rule hinge.
11. New turned uprights, replaced uprights from parts of other table legs, even staircase balusters, stained and polished with mottled results, not caused by age or wear.
12. Made up from solid
Victorian mahogany clothes horse, built on similar lines, with new top and underframe.
Construction and materials
Sutherlands are usually about 3 ft bin long — a comfortable size to be lifted by one person. They were made in plain mahogany with mahogany cheval supports, feet and gate legs, with flattened bracket feet joined by a turned stretcher.
They were extremely narrow, not more than 9 in across when the flaps were down, which were very deep and fall to a line just above the stretcher. The two gates on either side are recessed into the underframe, and swing out on wooden hinges.
The flaps have brass hinges on a rule joint, set close to the ends of the joins, with one or two additional hinges under the flap to support the weight when lifting and lowering.
Detail
The upright supports are usually turned or baluster shaped, or twin turned legs socketing in to a single bracket foot at either end. Sometimes, on more ornate versions, there is a small drop finial on the undercurve. Sutherlands are always on castors, sometimes set beneath slightly outward-scrolling feet, or a compressed inward scroll. They are usually about 2 ft 4 in —more the height of dining furniture than writing furniture, and early versions were always in solid woods and not veneered. Later versions for provincial drawing rooms and parlours were veneered in the ubiquitous birds’ eye maple and were much more showy and not so elegant.
Variations
Often the tables are found in oak, and very pleasing when well-polished and aged. However, oak tends to split quite easily, and the weight of the flaps imposes a considerable strain to flap edges and table-top edges at the hinges. Others may be found in yew wood with elm tops, and in fruitwood with oak tops.
Broader versions of this simple design melt into narrow gate-legged tables with deep flaps, made over a century earlier in standard `country’ woods and combinations of woods. Usually the cheval supports are abandoned in favour of four simple straight legs, joined with stretchers. The flaps may be rectangular or rounded.
Reproductions
Small spindly Victorian and Edwardian `tea tables’ are low enough to be used by people sitting in sprung armchairs or sofas. These were sometimes round-leafed, sometimes square or rectangular, but the principles of construction are basically the same: narrow top, often on four turned legs with thin stretchers, and two gate legs to support the flaps.
Heavier, chunkier tables of full height, also on four stretchered legs, usually have flaps of less depth. They are almost a cross between the delicate Pembroke and the functional, unobtrusive Sutherland.
Price bands
Ornate frames, veneered tops,$300-500.
Nineteenth century, plain, solid wood, £200-260.
`Spider leg’, £500-750.
Below: the black paint and excessive turning is characteristic of a late Victorian Sutherland.
Below: in contrast to the table on the left, this elegantly turned and inlaid piece dates from c.1870.

Queen Anne drop-leaf table

Although popularly known as `Queen Anne’, the drop-leaf table did not really come into widespread use until mahogany
Signs of authenticity
1. Heavy weight of mahogany –San Domingo or Cuban.
2. Grain of flaps and central fixed top all running parallel to joins.
3. Each piece of table top cut from a single piece of timber.
4. Underframe of thick solid timbers of oak or close-grained red pine.
5. Scrape marks on under
surface where gate has been opened and closed.
6. No screw holes or bore holes of any description on any part of undersurface.
7. Patination under flaps and on sides of gates where they have been constantly handled.
8. Thickness of timber would be a minimum of 1 in.
9. Flaps correctly proportioned to legs when not raised.
10. Wooden hinges with three `knuckles’.
11. Rule joints and hinges with thumb-moulding continuing round full circumference of top.
12. Circular tables seating four until c.1740, then squared table tops as well as circular.
13. Correct height – 2 ft 4 in for dining tables.
Likely restoration and repair
14. Legs broken and replaced, particularly on gates. Grain either running right across from underframe or breaking on a line with bottom of underframe where replacement has been pegged in.
15. Gates broken on hinges and repaired with white pine,
stained.
16. Flaps split, cracked from weight of wood on hinge.
Repaired but weakened. A break in grain, thick streak of fake patination will indicate plugged crack.
17. Replaced flaps with slight difference in thickness, duller patina and signs of old screw holes on undersurface, or new hinges with machine-turned screws.
became available, after the end of Queen Anne’s reign. The earliest drop-leaf tables were also made of Virginia walnut from c.1720 onwards, when supplies of good French walnut ceased. The curving cabriolelike leg, terminating in pad feet or a more elaborate ball-andclaw foot, is distinctive of the period generally known as Queen Anne, but the style continued well into the reign of George i. Not until then were dining habits adapted to the Continental style, with all the diners seated round a large table, with matching chairs, dinner service and glasses. Until then the English custom of serving food from a long buffet-style table was prevalent and smaller dining tables were mainly in use in the morning room and parlour for occasional
meals such as breakfast when small numbers of the household sat down at different times. The drop-leaf table was a more sophisticated version of the gate-leg table, with four legs only, two of which hinged out to support the flaps on either side. Drop-leaf tables were circular at first, but from c.1740 square flaps became more popular, because they could accommodate more people in comfort.
Tables for eating off were made in solid wood and were not veneered because of the damage that might be caused by spillages or hot dishes. The advantage of mahogany was that it was immensely dense and strong, did not warp or bend and, unlike walnut, was impervious to worm.
Construction and materials
The technique of making chests and chests of drawers with a carcase of different woods spread to table making, and the drop leaf table is among the earliest to have an underframe of oak or close-grained red pine, with the main parts of solid mahogany or Virginia walnut. A few very fine tables were also made in English walnut, but they are rare to find. As with the gate-leg table, the legs continue up in one piece to the underside of the top, whether on the hinged or fixed leg. The gates of drop-leaf tables formed part of the underframe construction and had wooden or brass hinges with three ‘knuckles’.
Most drop-leaf tables were never very large, and at most seat six on later, square shapes, and four on circular tables of the earlier period. There are conflicting dates for the first general use of mahogany, but as a rough guide it can be said that except for isolated and exceptional
Variations
Period country versions were made in oak, or elm, or oak and elm with stretchered frame and gates, as simplified drop leaf tables. The balance of a genuine four-legged drop-leaf table is hard to achieve, and some drop-leaf country versions are found with half-legs folding against each other when the flaps are down, opening to a six-legged table when raised, but few of these have survived.
Simple column turning persisted in oak on legs of Georgian drop-leaf tables, plain chamfered legs being the later period alternative. Good country versions follow the rules of mahogany drop-leaf tables: the grain runs parallel to joins which cases, it was not used for furniture before 1730-35. From that date until the 1750s, when duties and taxes were lifted, mahogany was imported in ballast, and its quality varies considerably, although most furniture-makers preferred to use the best, fine-grained, dense San Domingo or Cuban timber.
Detail
Brass rule hinges set close to the edge of the table, secured with round-ended hand-turned screws, were countersunk into the underside of the fixed top and flap, which had a rule join, with the moulding continuing round the full circumference of the table. Legs were high-curving, virtually cabriole, with plain pad feet or hoofed feet are thumb-moulded, hinges set well in, approximately over legs when flap is down, but the grain of underframe is vertical for strength; dowelling persisted long after it was replaced with screws in mahogany versions. Traditional methods of construction were used for country pieces long after they had been superseded by improved techniques.
Below left: George II provincial drop leaf in oak, with pad feet, it has slightly wider fixed table top than mahogany versions.
Below right: late seventeenth-, early eighteenth-century country version.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
Plain rectangular square-legged drop-leaf small dining tables were manufactured from c.1840 onwards in light-weight African mahogany, cheap Honduras mahogany or baywood. They usually have deeper flaps, falling quite close to the floor. The construction of early drop leafs is difficult to reproduce and has a limited market in commercial terms.
Later versions of simplified gate-legged tables have been made continuously through to this century, as general purpose tables for domestic households, hotels and public buildings, and as dining tables for the average home. Poor-quality materials, machine-cut timbers, coarse-grained pine underframes and lack of craftsmanship in detail and proportion indicate mass-manufacture.
Price bands
Fine quality mahogany, $1,500-1,800.
Country version in oak, £800-1,200.
Gate-leg version in oak, £750-1,000.
Fruitwood (flaps in two pieces), £1,000-1,250.
c.1800, reeded leg, £650-1,800. Early nineteenth-century plain mahogany, 1300-500.
Below: late eighteenth-century drop leaf, c.1800.

Refectory table

There was remarkably little furniture of any sort until the sixteenth century in England, apart from chests to hold valuables and clothes, benches and stools to sit on, and a rough `boorde’ or table for eating from. Tables in ‘refectories’ or halls were dismantled at night and used by knights and squires to sleep on – hence the description ‘table dormant’.
At first, tables were of roughhewn planks mounted on two or
more trestles. A stretcher was added for stability, but as the table was destined to be covered with layers of napery its appearance did not matter very much until Elizabethan days when surfaces of polished wood. became fashionable. The trestle developed into two solid end-pieces on massive feet, joined by a substantial stretcher, and a top which slotted into the two end-bearers. A tusk-shaped tenon on the outer side of the end-piece, knocked into a hole
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in the protruding end of the stretcher, held the table rigid. The alternative method of construction for tables was a basic frame made up of legs, low stretchers on all four sides and a top frame on which the table top rested. From these came the ,melon-bulbed’ tables of Elizabethan and Jacobean days, so loved and copied by makers of reproduction furniture from the late Victorian days and early years of this century.

Signs of authenticity
1. Some graining, and figuring on all wood where it has been split and not sawn.
2. Timbers shrunk along the grain making them narrower than the cleats or clamps.
3. All timbers, including low bottom stretchers, of same aged wood, patination and colour.
4. Heavy wear on bottom stretchers.
5. Width of two planks only. Some are made from a single plank. From c.1660 these were sometimes framed with cleating on all four sides with mitred corners.
6. In ‘frame’ construction, dowels sunk or slightly loose, not protruding. Green wood was
used so that dowels would not be pushed out by shrinkage of main timbers.
7. ‘Bolection moulding’ deeply incised, secured to legs with pegs or dowels.
8. Hand-cut dowels and pegs of uneven size and shape.
9. Thick patination on undersurface of table tops where it overhangs and has been handled continuously.
10. Feet blocks are worn, rotted or ‘frayed’ by damp and constant use on stone floors.
Likely restoration and repair
11. Bottom stretchers on frame construction tables replaced - often entire bottom frame including bases of square-sectioned legs.
12. Planks of table top fitting flush with clamps, no shrinkage, indicates new top or replaced clamps or both.
13. Saw marks on underside of table top or any part of straight timbers means recent replacement.
14. New tops made up from old floorboards with right grain but not much patination. Signs of nail heads where floorboards were nailed to joists.
15. It can safely be said that no table of this age on the market today has survived completely intact without repairs and replacement timbers at some time in its life.
Construction and materials
Most of these solid, heavy and important tables were made in oak. Some were made with elm tops and oak frames, and some of fruitwood for smaller tables if the girth of the tree was big enough for planking. The wood was not sawn, but riven and split into planks and then cleaned off with an adze until a smooth surface was obtained.
Whether made of trestle or frame construction, the table was no more than two planks wide — broad tables were not needed, since the nobility sat on one side of the table only, facing down the hall. The planks were clamped or cleated at either end to finish the raw ends of the wood and reduce warping and bending. The entire frame of a refectory table is held together with mortise-and-tenon joints and thick, handcut pegs or dowels. The uprights on a trestle table were slotted into two cross-bearers fixed to the underside of the table top,
and into two long flat plinths or feet at the bottom. One or two stretchers ran between the uprights and were slotted through and tenoned with a large tusk-shaped wedge to secure them. These wedges could easily be knocked out when the table was dismantled. On tables with frame construction, the base was made up of four thick stretchers, like the bottom of a box, tenoned into the bottoms of the square-sectioned legs very near the ground. The tops of the legs were dowelled into the underframe of the’ table top.
Detail
Bolection moulding for the swelling melon bulbs was common by Elizabethan times. In order to minimize the girth of timber needed for the legs, the swelling bulbs were added to straight, square-sectioned legs which were then carved and turned above and below the joins.
Variations
If there was little furniture to be seen in grand houses and manors, there was none in peasants’ dwellings. Refectory tables were only used in wealthy households, monasteries, and large manor houses.
Some crude side tables were made, usually known as ‘harvest tables’, for harvest suppers, as well
as some basic X-frame tables of elm, but they were rough and unfinished and very few have survived. Smaller trestle-type tables of applewood and other fruitwoods were also made for farmhouses, but most of the long, scrubbed farmhouse tables date from the end of the eighteenth century, if not considerably later.
Above: single plank harvest table, or ‘boorde’, constructed on the trestle principle, with an arcaded, chip-carved frieze. Left: seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century double plank frame table, with rushlight and candle drawer.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
Massive melon-bulbed tables were made for the ‘Jacobethan’ revival of the Victorian age, using traditional methods of construction, but the planks for tops were sawn, not split, pegs and dowels were machine-made and of even size, machine-
carving was shallow and not smoothly rounded with use.
Twentieth century London-made reproductions from c.1900 by furniture-makers employing highly skilled craftsmen are also recognizable for the exaggerated proportions of bulbs and bolection
mouldings. Dutch versions of a later period have distinctive pear or acorn-shaped legs, and not straight-sided ‘melons’. Later, baluster-turned legs from large tables were combined with frame tops, new stretchers and surfaces.
From c.1925, one finds mass-produced ‘refectory’ tables with solid end-pieces and square tenons to secure central stretchers, often with knots in planks, usually three planks wide to accommodate people on both sides of the table, now warping and splitting because of unseasoned saw-cut timbers.
Tables of very recent date are often made from old floorboards, usually elm, sometimes oak, correctly split, but without deep patination and with none on the overhang of the table top. Bleached oak versions, mass-produced, greyish in colour, have undersurfaces furry with saw marks where timbers have been sawn as standard planking and then made up.
Price bands
Draw leaf or fixed-top refectory, c.1600, £8,000+.
Seventeenth-century frame table, trestle-type, £4,500-5,500.
Eighteenth- or nineteenth-century reproduction, £1,200-2,000.
(All prices for period tables assume some restoration.)