The water damage should provide a hint! It's a plant stand, likely had marble originally.
Eastlake sort of style....nice!

The idea that someone would put a plant on a table with a velvet top made me
think that was not the original purpose. I didn’t think that the velvet itself
might have been a replacement. The wood covered with velvet is old and has a strip
nailed to one side with tiny nails, so I assumed it was the same age as the
table.

Would marble used back then have been so thin, though? Even the standard
issue marble tile I am trimming down (on the sides), it will stand up above the
wood a bit, like a millimeter. I will have to bevel the edges so they are not sharp. I thought older pieces generally had thicker slabs
of marble.

"Eastlake sort
of” ? Not Eastlake, then? I only
know the general style.

Would have been marble...and would have stood up above the surface....the velvet was a newer replacement....can't imagine why velvet!?
I always hesitate to say "Eastlake" or "Stickley"....because people look for a signature. It's walnut and likely late1 9th century.....late Eastlake period.
Really a nice piece!

Oh, I can imagine that now. I
had thought of the marble being flush. I have another stand in brass plated
cast iron (judging by the weight) that has a very thick slab of green marble on
the top, standing well above the side trim. I just had not imagined this oak
one like that.

Maybe the person who put in
the velvet over the cheap wood lacked the means to make a better replacement. I
can tell you that trimming down the marble piece to make MY replacement has
been a lot of work. I got a friend of a friend to cut the piece down from 12”
to ~ 11” with a wet saw. But he didn’t
follow my marks, even though I made them so it would be smaller, preferring it too small rather than too big; and he screwed up, and made it a 1/8 of an inch too big. He would not cut another one. I’m filing
it down, little by little. Almost there.

I would not look for a
signature. Not on this. I don’t expect that this was an expensive piece. I
thought of Eastlake as a style made by many manufacturers, following the principles
of Charles Eastlake. Loose terminology, on my part.

If the velvet is original, it was there so things could be placed on it quietly ... some sort of serving stand?

Then later used and abused as a plant stand?

Your brass plated iron stand is most likely cast brass...bet it doesn't hold a magnet.
And your "Oak stand" sure looks like walnut to me!
here's a picture...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fine-Walnut-Victorian-Aesthetic-Period-Marble-Top-Plant-Stand-Table-Ca-1880-/261693183320?hash=item3cee211558

I have a similar table with a large marble top. The top has a sort of bevelled edge and sits on top covering all of the wood. The top is not attached. My table is part of a bedroom set and I have the bed, the dresser with a similar marble top and a washstand again with the large bevelled marble top. It is my understanding that the tall table was used at the bedside with a candle or oil lamp to keep the fire away from the bedding. My set has been in my family since the 1850's.

I think I would call it a stand rather than a table. Lamp stand, plant stand, Wardian case stand.

Casey

Being covered with fabric makes sense for a candle stand...but I can see no example on line....candle stands were usually wood and shorter....28 to 29 inches tall....while a fern stand was taller. And candle stands were most popular in earlier times....by the Eastlake period oil lamps would have been more the norm but for things like a dining room table or a mantle> Don't know where you cot the piece of marble you are cutting down, but a marble floor tile is only 3/8 inch thick. The marble on the antique pieces I have is about an inch thick....easier to cut a thinner piece!

When I bought it I was thinking, “Men’s shaving stand”, but there are no
drawers and a mirror would have had to be hung on the wall. But as I’ve had it
I’ve been thinking of it as a plant stand. I won’t use it for that myself, I
won’t put a plant on anything wood; when
I’ve finished fixing it, maybe I’ll display a piece of antique pewter or glass.

The marble I am cutting down is left over from tiling my kitchen backsplash.
So, I have it already, it will go with the colors I have in all the nearby
rooms, and I figured it would be relatively easier to get cut than a thick piece, which I did not know (until now)
was normal for these pieces. If I waited to find a thick piece this might never be ready for use. As it is, I have had it already more than a year while I tried to find options for the insert.

That’s a really beautiful piece in that ebay listing! That’s the closest
I’ve seen in form to mine, though obviously a much more elaborate piece. It’s
nice to see how marble would have looked, standing up from the top.

My picture of my "Eastlake”
stand was a bit dark. I just took another one. These show the grain better, being
undamaged compared to the water stained top

About half my furniture
is oak, and half walnut. I am always looking out for pieces that will match one
or the other.

Here is the brass and marble one: I just got this in June. This has a
substantial thick piece of dark green marble. I think this is the nicest plant stand I have ever found. A magnet sticks to it. There is some rust on the lower level, which made me suspect it was iron underneath. But there is not enought to notice unless you are examining very closely.

I really can't see anything but that crocheted table cloth!!! Wow!
Yep...in that view it sure looks like it's oak!
Fabulous iron/brass stand....but if it holds a magnet you know it's iron....but not tarnished at all....likely gilt....
Yep....right up there with all the best plant stands I have known!!...VERY nice!

It could have been a hallway table or a lamp stand for kerosene lamps. It is a bit too tall for a smoker's stand placed beside a favorite arm chair.

It's not a candle stand nor a smoking stand, nor a serving stand. It's a fern stand, a plant stand, ideally for that ubiquitous Boston fern found in so many Victorian homes.

https://www.google.com/search?q=victorian+fern+stands&biw=1024&bih=702&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiurMP-np_JAhUDYyYKHWz6C38Q_AUIBygC

19th Century hallway/vestibules might have a stand such as this. When someone came to call they would leave their card on the top.

Calling cards didn't become "important" until about 1880. This piece appears earlier than that. In all the restored Victorian homes and museums I have been in, a calling card tray was on a larger table.
I am 95% certain that the original owner of this piece called it a fern stand, although it might have held a candle at some time or an oil lamp, a marble bust of Aphrodite, or even a telephone at some time.
I was a docent for a few years at an historic Victorian home. Our line of patter told to the visitors on a tour was well researched. For example we noted the beautiful hall table with the mirror beneath and mentioned the fact that while such a table was often called a "petticoat mirror", that wasn't it's use at all.

Linda what a tease, what was a petticoat mirror used for?

Linda, you mean the oak piece in my original post might be earlier than 1880? When
I was reading up on the Eastlake Movement, I figured that simpler pieces like
mine were probably affordable, mass market, later incarnations of the idea. Like
post 1900.

Interesting being docent for a few years at a Victorian home! Wow, that
would be fun. Okay, I’ll bite: I have seen those tables with the mirrors
underneath: What WERE they for?

Just for pretty....to reflect light from under the table into a dark room. Mirrors were "luxury items" so many mirrors and big ones were expensive and a show of wealth..
"And notice the beautiful staircase ands the stained glass at the landing...in the time of....." and "notice the tete-de-tete in the music room, it has been said that was to keep a lady and her beau at a discrete distance, but really it was just another one of the pretty Victorian conceits"..."Notice the dress on the mannequin. that was the daughter's wedding dress....notice the 17 inch waist"....yadda yadda yadda! LOL!

OP, want to repurpose your stand? Offer it to your church next week for the advent wreath. It is only needed for about a month and a great way to get some use out of your stand.

Advent wreath! No kidding! It's the perfect size.

But it is not ready for other eyes but my own. No insert
yet, and the top is still stained.

Plus the top fits onto the base via a tongue and groove
attachment. The base has a tongue at the top of the stem and the underside of the
top horizontal support has a groove routed in. It was secured with a nail through
the side going through tongue and groove, plus some gunky glue, which I removed
to be able to work on the top. Without the nail, the top rocks and can come
off. My cat has already knocked the top off once.

I am thinking about using 2 small bolts instead of a nail passing
through it when the time comes to reassemble.

If I put a camouflage cloth on I can put my own advent
wreath on there. As long as the cat doesn’t decide to jump up there.

I thought I’d update my original post to show the finished piece, which I
completed right before Christmas. The amount of effort expended far exceeds
what you’d think. But, having started, I very stubbornly refused to quit.

The hardest part turned out having the marble cut down to size. The friend
of a friend who cut it for me did not follow the lines I drew on it, but cut it
a good 3 mm too large to fit. That necessitated grinding it down by hand, then
filing, sanding down and polishing. No one rents a wet saw around here, and it
took the friend who has contractor neighbors months to find someone who would
do it, and then unwillingly but only because he owed my friend a favor. The opening, despite appearances, was not a symmetrical square...so I filed to fit.

Then the top was stripped. The bad stains did not come out, so I bleached
them out with oxalic acid, which was a story in itself.

Sanding, staining,
varnishing: complicated by heavy rain that meant that the stain and varnish did
not want to dry. I’d have to charge $1000 for it if I ever wanted to sell it.

But, at long last, it’s done….

And it's for sure a treasure....well done!

I ditto Linda's comments on the crocheted cloth. What a beauty!

And it's in perfect shape, too! No holes, stains, or dropped stitches. I think it was $12 in a resale shop. I almost fainted. 2-3 years ago I did an extensive search for one, and every one I found then had issues. I didn't "need" another, but could not walk away.

The only thing "wrong" with it is it's been tea dyed selectively from the edges inward. Kind of an ombre effect. Darker on the perimeter, for about the outermost foot. It fades in very gradually to the usual shade of ecru in the center. It's been well done, so it looks intentional. Just not my taste to have the edges darker. I have been debating ever since I got it whether I should try to take it out with sodium perborate.