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briggy

Small Oval Table - How Old?

10 years ago

I inherited his little table from my grandparents, where it had lived in the guest room for as long as I can remember. Much of their furniture were family heirlooms but there is no one left to ask about when this little piece joined our family. Can anyone give me a guess on the age. I'm thinking that it's Empire but that's just my best guess. there are no labels or marks anywhere on the underside. If it helps at all, my family roots are mostly in Pennsylvania. Can anyone point me in the right direction for more info?


Oval Side Table · More Info


Oval Side Table · More Info


Oval Side Table · More Info


Oval Side Table · More Info

Comments (19)

  • 10 years ago

    Pretty Table ! I would guess Mission,too, but I'm not an expert. Hopefully, someone else will see this and be able to tell you more.

  • 10 years ago

    No you were right on with Empire....too old to be mission. Looks like mahogany or cherry, which has often been called "poor man's mahogany"...because it grew here and didn't have to be imported.

  • 10 years ago

    Thanks! I'm pretty sure it is mahogany as the grain looks very similar to my mahogany dining room table (and not very much at all to my cherry drop-leaf). From the browsing I've been doing online, most of the pieces that have similar heavy scrolls like this table all seem to be from about 1830 to 1840. Does that sound reasonable?

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    And up to about 1865....It's the ogee molding apron and the curved feet that says it to me.
    Beautiful table by the way!
    Corrected to read 1865!!! Geez!

  • 10 years ago

    Think it once would have been in the "parlor" or music room. My aunt had a room that just had chairs of various types "what we once called easy chairs" & then a piano, radio & zither. The shape of the center of it would be perfect in such a room. Very nice piece!

  • 10 years ago

    Oh, that is shape that many music stands had up at top that held the music!

  • PRO
    10 years ago

    Find one of the screws, there are probably a number of them holding the top on to the base. If the screw does not have a point, it's pre-1850. If it has a point but an unusually narrow slot, it's probably between 1860 and 1890. If it's a phillips-head, post WWII.

    If the top is a veneer (you will be able to tell if you look closeley at the edge) it is 20th century. There was a line of solid mahogany furniture made in the 50's and 60's, it is very nice, and has a decal from the National Solid Mahogany Furniture Association (or something like that)

    Casey

  • 10 years ago

    I beg to differ on the veneer. I have a mahogany chest made by my great great grandfather about the time of the civil war and it has bookmatched veneer on the drawer fronts. And I absolutely know who made it and when and where it has been for the past 150 or so years.

  • 10 years ago

    My grandmother had a table very much like that from 1900-1915.

    the "real" Empire ones usually had fancier scrolling, the later ones often have flat, veneered legs and feet.

  • 10 years ago

    I suspect you are confusing American Empire with French Empire perhaps? American Empire was characterized by ogee molding and a top overhanging 2 drawers, curled or bun feet, fiddle shaped back splats on chairs, inlay ornamentation>
    There was a style that looked vaguely "Empire" popular in the early 1900's that was heavier in appearance than Empire and made with lots of oak veneer. Veneer was not often used in the earlier period on the arms and legs of furniture nor on curved drawer fronts.
    When it was used it was on flat surfaces and the veneer was 1/8 of an inch thick, or more.
    Herre are some pictures....with a little slop over into Duncan Phyfe....which was not far behind Empire.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=american+empire+side+table&rlz=1C2PQHB_enUS634US634&biw=1280&bih=891&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL3KqPlvjLAhXMQyYKHTv-A3AQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=american+empire+furniture

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Looks like your table prolly had a marble top. Early empire usually had more refinement to it ie acanthus leaves and hairy paws, etc.

    https://chairish-prod.global.ssl.fastly.net/image/product/master/a3b066b1-c2e9-465e-8adc-d869ed335851

  • 10 years ago

    Casey, that's interesting about the difference in types of screws. None of the screws are phillips heads. I unscrewed one from the base and it does have a slight point. Rather interesting to see that all of the screws are recessed fairly deeply, at least 3/8" deep. When I have a bit more time, I'll pull one from the top as I think that would be a more likely place to have one be original to the piece.

    Linda, I think that was probably the same search I had done, hoping to find something similar enough to table. Some truly beautiful pieces come up in that search! And I totally agree about the age of furniture with veneers - I have a pre-Civil War sideboard with plenty of veneer on it that has been in my family;s custody the entire time.


  • 10 years ago

    That table never had a marble top>

    Just because the calendar says 1840 doesn't mean that everyone stopped making the Chippendale hairy paw and the Sheraton spindley legs.
    But this table with the lyre support, the ogee apron and the square pedestal with the rolled feet is stereotypically Empire.
    I have never seen an Empire table with a marble top nor can I find a picture of one on the web....not to say there wasn't one....but it's unlikely.

  • 10 years ago

    hey briggy,

    Antiques Roadshow link is a great youtube video. I find these appraisals from professionals very educational. The "Egyptian Marble" which was popular at some point fell out of favor. The table in the link was made in Phila. Notice the link in my earlier post. The white marble is what I am used to seeing. There was a 19th century quarry near Baltimore which furnished tabletops and fireplace surrounds by the thousands, all in white marble.

  • 10 years ago

    The white marble topped table you pictures shows more Victorian in style with the carving....and the white marble.
    And while I watch Antiques Road show religiously, I often remind myself that it IS a TV show and there is a lot of "romancing the product" going on, and everyone can't know all about everything....and if something seems odd to check all other sources of information>
    And I have several pieces of white marble that at one time were on the top of something and a Renaissance revival dresser with white marble....from my grandmother's family dating about 1870, and a later Eastlake table with a pink marble top.
    But every table in the early to mid 19th century did not have a marble top.

  • PRO
    10 years ago

    I'm saying for a table of this style, the presence of veneer would be a dating tool. The top presents as a single board of mahogany. If it were an 1850 example, that is not the look they would have been trying to achieve via veneer; it would have been quarter-matched with crossbanding., i.e.: fancy.

    Casey

  • 10 years ago

    But....this is not a high style table. The essence of the period is there but not the high style.
    Rather like the difference between a Belter chair....and another early Victorian chair with a curved back. Or the difference between a Gustav Stickley library table....and another Mission table that is oak, with simple lines, but not the high style of a Stickley.

  • 8 years ago



    I went on a tour of Winterthur museum today. It was a real treat. This particular room devoted only to Empire furnishings. While these pieces are earlier and much more refined than the OP's table, it is clear that marble figured prominently during this period.

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