What is this????

[Mike K.]

Hello friends,
I was recently given this table. Supposedly it has some value, but nobody knows its function. Can you help identify what kind of table this is? It stands just around 2 feet high, about the same height as the arm of a couch or chair. One guess is that it was made as a telephone table. What do you think?

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Vase or phone, I'd think.

 

[KittyT]

Looks like a regular end/phone table to me.

 

[Vintage Betty]

I'm no furniture expert, but this looks like a standard 1930's end or telephone table.

The table would rest in the front entryway, and the telephone for the house would sit on it. Many times people also would have a chair nearby.

Due to the extensive damage on the top, I'd value this at $40-120, depending on the region of the country you were shopping in.

If you wanted to refinish the damage and restain the top, I'd raise that value to $250-350+.

This is all just a guess. For a more exact date, I'd need to see the joints and nails used.

Vintage Betty

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

Cute little side table, used for whatever you want against the wall, I would think. It looks dead-on Arts and Crafts era to me. The shape of the legs tells me that. I have a friend with a table very similar in style. She has it parked under one of her windows in her early 40s era house for the cats to sit on!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

and some Howards Restore a finish would perk the top right up....


I would -love- a half table like that by my entry door!

 

[BeBopBaby]

Cute little side table, used for whatever you want against the wall, I would think. It looks dead-on Arts and Crafts era to me. The shape of the legs tells me that. I have a friend with a table very similar in style. She has it parked under one of her windows in her early 40s era house for the cats to sit on!

I agree - Arts & Crafts/mission from the early part of the 20th century (pre-1930s). The style of the legs is a dead giveaway.

That style of table doesn't have a specific purpose, they're just wallhugging space savers to put what you choose on. I have one in the landing of my stairway that I put knick-knacks on.

Any makers marks on the table?

 

[BellyTank]

A "half-table", for using where there is a wall in the way.

B
T

I just googled "half table" and looked at some pics and sure enough, my guess was correct.

B
T again.

 

[Forgotten Man]

The design appears to be arts and crafts… however, most arts and crafts designed furniture was made of quartersawn oak.

I would say that table was made in the 1920’s or early 1930’s as a simple basic mission design. There were many furniture manufacturers that were making Spanish Revival and Mission styles then it’s hard to say.

The use of the table since it sits about as high as an arm to a chair or sofa would be used as an end table. Most half tables such as this would rest at the end of an arm chair or sofa to place a lamp on for reading or the TV remote control… KIDDING!lol Seriously now, the proper function is to offer a place to set something on while sitting it a chair or on one end of a sofa.

A half table that is a little taller would be proper for an entry way to place a vase or a telephone.

I am just going off of what I know from seeing movie set design and reading designed purposes of such furniture out of old Sears catalogs of the 20’s – 40’s.

 

[Tomasso]

Caution

Repairing or refinishing important pieces of furniture can decimate their value. I'd suggest that you have a few reputable dealers look at it for a proper assessment.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Agreed!

 

[Mike K.]

Thank you all for your helpful input. I'll have to look more closely at the legs to see how they're fastened. The table was given to me by a friend who no longer wanted it. I was hoping to restore it to better condition and use it to hold an old Western Electric 302 telephone in my living room.

 

[KilroyCD]

Thank you all for your helpful input. I'll have to look more closely at the legs to see how they're fastened. The table was given to me by a friend who no longer wanted it. I was hoping to restore it to better condition and use it to hold an old Western Electric 302 telephone in my living room.

That type of table is also called a "hall table" as it doesn't take up much space in a hallway. Hall tables were frequently used as phone stands, so I think the Western Electric 302 would be perfect on it.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Cute little side table, used for whatever you want against the wall, I would think. It looks dead-on Arts and Crafts era to me. The shape of the legs tells me that. I have a friend with a table very similar in style. She has it parked under one of her windows in her early 40s era house for the cats to sit on!

A cat table! :eusa_clap
My first thought was phone table, but I prefer cat table,... obviously.

 

[Vintage Betty]

Actually I agree with Arts and Crafts movement too.

I just looked it up, and this table is also called a "Radio Table", on which a larger style radio was supposed to have sat.

Hope that helps.

Vintage Betty

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

A cat table! :eusa_clap
My first thought was phone table, but I prefer cat table,... obviously.

In fact, I was first going to write "vase, phone or cat" above, too. Of course, as soon as you declare it a cat table, your cat(s) will ignore it.

 

[Senator Jack]

Anyone else see Frank Lloyd Wright in that design?

 

[BeBopBaby]

The first thing I thought of when I saw that table was Kentuck Knob. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright house where everything is set up on a hexagonal grid. The shape of the table-top reminded me of the shapes that are repeated all through the house.

 

[Senator Jack]

The shape of the table-top reminded me of the shapes that are repeated all through the house.

Exactly. The trapezoidal legs seem to have his imprint, too. If it's not an early 20th century piece by him, then it's by someone who emulated his design.

 

[Twitch]

In the 50s telephones got installed in some strange, for today, places. I used to see odd-shaped little tables like that in every house I knew. Usually a phone was on it. Often phones were installed in hallways for some strange reason and narrow tables were used. They were also put near entryways too so a little table held the phone adjacent to the arm of the sofa or against the wall by the front door.