Software
Houzz Logo Print
webuser_869359949

Help identifying old coffee table

3 years ago

Hi, i found this old coffee table on the side of the road. im wondering how old it is or if anyone knows anything else about it. it had a stone top but that is smashed into pieces. thanks for the help!





Comments (57)

  • 3 years ago

    Thank you. I will definitely do that. I appreciate the advice. I won’t paint it yet

  • 3 years ago

    It's not oak which would have put it in the turn of the century era.

  • 3 years ago



  • 3 years ago

    This is a piece of it

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    18th C marble top: very much like your piece. Hey, who knows? It's worth a follow up.

    Not so much now, but I often came upon a piece that someone ditched because the feeling was it was just old junk.

    My neighbor, years ago, picked up a discarded rug left on the curb. She thought she had a find and she did. Took it to our local Oriental rug store, was told it was an antique Tabriz; she had them clean it and it still is the show piece in her front entry.



    https://www.kennyballantiques.com/collection/18th-century-french-marble-top-side-table/

  • 3 years ago

    Hope you get more info here. Keep us posted. The fun of the hunt!

  • 3 years ago

    Thats a good idea. Valuable or not I’ll consider it one of my better finds! It will be interesting to find out more about it. thanks again for the information

  • 3 years ago

    I will let you know what find out

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Michael, good information. Gives the OP more to go on.

    Do you think the base could be antique and someone replaced the top?

    I was looking at the wood legs...looks like a "wormy" wood and someone started to strip it.



  • 3 years ago

    It's not an old Chippendale piece and that top is not marble. And the picture of the side tablew ith the brass gallery top is not 18th century French....it's not even 19th century. and the wood on the legs is not "wormy". Any reputable antique dealer will tell you what I am telling you. It's "used furniture" paint it up or strip it, get a new top and enjoy....but as is it's worth almost nothing.

    Enjoy it for what it is, a curbside find that can be refurbished, and don'tw aste your time trying to find out if it's a rare Chippendale antique table.


  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    linda campbell...sorry, I will await other commentators thoughts. Your calling the piece '80's French Provincial, does not give me confidence in your knowledge.

    We are all having fun here, sharing different possibilities. Don't be a Debbie Downer and don't get so mad. This isn't a contest.

  • 3 years ago

    I saw nothing of the sort in linda’s post.

    tj

  • 3 years ago


    Is this really marble or not? I do not recognize it as being marble. Maybe I am mistaken. Not an uncommon material apparently.

  • 3 years ago

    I don't think that is technically marble, Michael, but it does look like natural stone.


    How tall is this table?

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    The pattern is variegated marble, but there’s no way to say if that one is real or faux without seeing it in person.

    Sorry, can’t help with an ID on the table. Great find, though, it’ll be nice all cleaned up.



    I found this interesting:

    “MARBLE

    As the favorite medium for Greek and Roman sculptors and architects, marble has become a cultural symbol of tradition and refined taste. Its extremely varied and colorful patterns make it a favorite decorative material. Usually, marble contains other minerals, including quartz, graphite, pyrite, and iron oxides. These minerals can give marble a pink, brown, gray, green, or variegated coloration. While true marble forms from limestone, there is also dolomitic marble, which forms when dolomite undergoes metamorphosis. The statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial is made of white marble from Georgia, while the floor is pink Tennessee marble, and the exterior facade is marble from Colorado.”

    (source: https://www.eastcoastsurfaces.us/surfaces)

    HU-869359949 thanked Jilly
  • 3 years ago

    I do believe the top is real stone as its got veins running all the way across it in some places. I‘d say the table stands about 2 feet high. I can take an actual measurement when I get home later.

  • 3 years ago

    I Googled "1970's French Provincial table" and couldn't find one like this one. I highly respect Linda's opinion, and she's usually correct, but to be safe I would do more research before doing anything to this table.

    HU-869359949 thanked woodrose77
  • 3 years ago

    I will say also that at one time someone tried to mortar all the pieces back together. so you can still see some of that gray mortar on the broken edges if the stones. It all broke apart as soon as I lifted it to put it in the back of my truck.

  • 3 years ago

    If you fix up this table, perhaps you can get a prettier stone for the top. :)


    Photos of how the joints are done might help nail down a period. I don't think that stone has been popular for a loooong time, but I don't know when (or why teehee) it was.

    HU-869359949 thanked Fori
  • 3 years ago

    The carving looks very nice - and that stone reminds me of a super chunky terrazzo.

    How is it constructed, held together?

    HU-869359949 thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
  • 3 years ago

    I agree with you, its not the most beautiful color of stone haha. I’d be more inclined to go with some kind of white marble top. I will do more research before I do any sort of painting on the wood though, just for my own curiosity. And I will have to examine it a little more closely to see how its constructed.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Terrazzo? Been around for hundreds of years. Made of smashed pieces of marble.




  • 3 years ago

    This table is not the type that will look better painted…the rough wear will be amplified by paint…where cleaning ..light sanding,
    ….and touch up stain will honor the age and beauty of the piece…using a furniture polish for the finish….it should be fairly inexpensive and easy to have a glass cut to mount underneath the table top frame …..where a perfect fit will not be needed

    HU-869359949 thanked btydrvn
  • 3 years ago

    I certainly learned some thing. That is most likely natural stone, of the "variegated marble" variety. If it were not smashed it would need to have been retained.

    Maybe a cut piece of plain limestone could be used. Glass, too modern.

  • 3 years ago

    This is the sort of product that the table top was. It may or may not have been the one original to the table.

    https://www.stonecontact.com/products-a748500/marble-chips-kitchen-terrazzo-tiles-for-table-top

  • 3 years ago

    Can’t imagine spending that much for a fake antique.. a real antique will cost much less if you explore thrift and antique stores in the right areas

  • 3 years ago

    I always enjoy the search as well… tho I mostly buy what I love .. not always having a particular use in mind🙀

  • 3 years ago

    Looks like a Georgian farmhouse table but not sure.

  • 3 years ago

    @Momof5x, do mean ”Georgian” as in the Eastern European country? Because it’s not even in the car park of the ball park for Georgian period style.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I don't think it is of the era of the new one linked. The carving and details are much more intricate and detailed. The new one linked looks as if the detailed trim is just stuck/glued on; the op table looks carved in many places.
    If you can, take pics of how it's constructed on the underside and where the legs attach, that will help with i.d.
    Good find! It will be fun if you can find out more about it and its worth.

    HU-869359949 thanked olychick
  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Turn the table upside down. Let's see how the legs are attached.

    Agree, that you can't compare the OP photo with the Wayfair table.

  • 3 years ago

    Do you have all of the pieces of the top? For i.d. take a piece to a place that sells marble and stone countertops.

  • 3 years ago

    Yes, i do have all the pieces. ill take some more photos of the underside too. thanks

  • 3 years ago


    Here are sone photos of the underside and joints

  • 3 years ago





    It also looks like someone began to strip it

  • 3 years ago



  • 3 years ago



  • 3 years ago



  • 3 years ago



  • 3 years ago



  • 3 years ago


    It looks like it used to be much darker but someone began to strip off the original finish

  • 3 years ago

    Wow, it does look like it's old and not a reproduction. Do you see any nails or screws anywhere?

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Nice. Some of the wood looks like walnut (the darker wood)

    . The lighter wood I'm not sure.

    There are probably dowels at the joints.

  • 3 years ago

    The wood to me honestly looks like old mahogany. my father used to restore antique boats for a living and they were all mahogany. I saw quite a lot of it throughout my young life. The grain looks exactly like it and it seems to be pretty hard. the table is rather heavy even without its top. I see two slotted screws around the top at each of the legs


  • 3 years ago

    I could be wrong but it sure looks like it. maybe I could scrape a tiny bit on the underside to really be able to tell for certain.

  • 3 years ago

    I don't know if it is antique,  but it certainly looks hand crafted with the marks  at the joins in the wood. It looks like it withstood being tossed to the roadside!  A good cleanup, a replacement top and you'll have a very stylish piece.

  • 3 years ago

    I have some mahogany chairs from the 40s and the finish looks like that without having been stripped because they sat in a sunny window for decades. This table does have that specky mahogany look. Might have been stained that early 20th century "mahogany" red...

  • 3 years ago


    those screws would go all the way from the top, down through the "apron," and then into the leg to sandwich it all together so the leg will not wobble. The way the leg is made, it's like a tendon at the top that is wedged into an opening in the apron.


    there may not be any dowels in it, but the markings at this mitered joint make me think it was marked, so that holes could be drilled for a dowel, and then if drilled on those marks it would go back together and line up the pieces.




    HU-869359949 thanked Michael Hilber
Sponsored
Bella Casa LLC
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars17 Reviews
The Leading Interior Design Studio in Franklin County