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Pre-Confederation Canadian Library Table

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    Posted 9 years ago

    Kydur
    (103 items)

    If I'm to believe the person I bought this from (for only $100), it's a library table that predates Canadian Confederation (1867). He claims it was used by his Great Grandfather in the 1850s in Lower Canada and the table even resided for a while in Parliament.

    I don't know, and I haven't been able to find anything similar in style after much searching online. It's not an exceptionally large table at 36" x 48" and as a result has been moved around quite a bit by the previous owner(s) and has suffered much damage, although nothing major.

    It definitely needs a good restoration in order to return it to its former glory, and it's something I'd like to tackle myself after I've learned and experimented on lesser pieces - especially if it has the age and history as claimed. At the very least it'll make a fantastic future computer desk!

    If anyone sees an element of style or design in the photos that would help me research it further I'd really appreciate hearing from you!

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    Comments

    1. scottvez scottvez, 9 years ago
      Looks to be Victorian Eastlake in style-- probably from 1870s- 90s time period.

      Do you have all of the drawers?

      scott
    2. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      Yup, all the drawers are accounted for. One drawer is in pieces, but all the pieces are there, and one drawer knob has a piece chipped off.

      Thanks for the information that narrows down the date. Anything after 1867 means I've been swindled out of a great story, but then who's going to complain after paying only a hundred bucks!
    3. scottvez scottvez, 9 years ago
      With antiques it is worthwhile to remember the adage: "Buy the antique, NOT THE STORY"!

      In your case the price was FANTASTIC and the story was a bit of FANTASY.

      Many times folks fall victim to a great story and pay premium $$ for a story that makes no sense or doesn't come with any supporting provenance or documentation.

      scott
    4. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      I agree on the adage, not that I have much say about it anyway since I usually can only buy stuff that my wallet says I can afford - hence stuff not in pristine condition that a lot of people just end up throwing away!

      I do like to hear the stories of the items I find - fabricated or not - and as much as possible I would like to having supporting documentation and provenance, but that hasn't happened yet.
    5. eclecticGA, 9 years ago
      It reminds me of a Berkey & Gay hall table that I saw in a thrift store recently. It had drawers, like yours, one one side, but no lower shelf. The company name was on a brass medallion inside one of the drawers. It would have be from around the same time though, 1860's - 1920's.

      Ironically, I was tempted to buy that and re-purpose it as a computer desk too, but it would have been a pain without any shelves or big drawers. What you have looks great. The shelf gives you room for a couple of towers, a printer, and any other typical desk clutter. I guess I'll be keeping an eye out for a library table.


    6. Alan2310 Alan2310, 9 years ago
      Hi
      Nice find and cheap $.
      Scottvez was bang on for the style, Victorian Eastlake.I will be more conservative with the circulation of this desk i will go with the end Victorian era 1900-10.
      Also we don't see lot of wear ,specially where the drawer slide in and out(second picture)
      Myself i will not use this for a computer desk,i will use it, as the focal point to any living room with a nice style lamp on top and a few other item(orchid)inkwell .
      It could be helpful to see closeup of a drawer.
      Maybe you could be interested to see Ebay item # 121491820905

      Thanks for sharing

      Regards

      Alan
    7. slackjack, 9 years ago
      This looks a lot like a partners desk because of the drawers on both sides.
    8. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      Thanks guys for the info on Victorian Eastlake. When I did some refined image searches for "Victorian Eastlake library table" it resulted in plenty of trestle tables but not many with the lower "shelf"; nor any of the same design, but I can certainly see the similarities, especially in the eBay item # supplied by Alan.

      This helps me to hone my ongoing search a bit more.

      Alan, I would want to put a functional "Steampunk" computer on the desk, and I already have the lamp and inkwell (plus nib box) that you can see in my other postings. I also have a vintage '70s rotary dial Candlestick phone replica to finish off the scene. I haven't posted the replica phone because, well it's a replica... even if it is a nearly 50-year old replica!

      The table (in parts) is currently in storage so I'm not able to take closeup photos of the drawer, but I might be able to crop something useful out of the hi-res photos I've already taken.
    9. walksoftly walksoftly, 9 years ago
      Scroll down to see one almost identical here;
      Lot 2100
      2100: Walnut Eastlake library table

      http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/439895
    10. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      Wow, thanks for that link 'walksoftly' - that is indeed the closest looking one I've seen so far. Unfortunately not a lot of additional information included on that listing, but it does tend to confirm what others have posted in their comments here.

      It's also a bit smaller (at 30.5" x 40" x 27" - I'm not sure which is the table-top dimensions in there) whereas my table-top is 36" x 48". Thanks for finding this for me!
    11. Alan2310 Alan2310, 9 years ago
      Hi
      Kydur
      Have you look on Ebay the link i send you yesterday.
      Have a look-- 121491820905
      .
      Cheer
      Alan
    12. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      Hi Alan, yup I went and saw and thanked you and made reference to the eBay link. See my comment (#9) four comments up from this one!
    13. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      Eclectic: when I was taking apart to go into storage I searched over, under, and into every piece looking for a mark, stamp, or label of some kind that would help identify it for further research. Nada. A brass medalion would have been a very welcome and cool find!

      Slackjack: Aren't partners desks much bigger, and don't they have the full array of drawers down each side? I did some image searches for partners desk and that is mostly what resulted. It did get me thinking, though, that maybe the reason I'm not able to track more images down is because I'm calling it the wrong thing! The Victorian Eastlake style has certainly helped to refine the search a lot.
    14. Kydur Kydur, 9 years ago
      Did some reorganizing of the storage area today and managed to take a closeup photo of one of the drawers in case it helps to identify/date this table.

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