What wood are most drinks cabinets made from?

Walnut, and by some distance. It is named in half of all titles on Sellingantiques, with burr walnut alone accounting for more than a third. Mahogany is the next thread, running through the Edwardian and earlier side cabinets and chiffoniers. Bird's-eye maple, lacquer and kingwood appear in smaller numbers.

When were cocktail cabinets made?

The dated listings run from 1800 to 1960, but the weight sits in one narrow band. Four fifths of everything with a year falls in the 1920s and 1930s. Before that the counts thin quickly through the 1910s, Edwardian and Victorian entries. Some listings carry a period label rather than a year, so those read as approximate.

Why do so many say Queen Anne style?

It's a revival form, not an eighteenth-century one. Cabinetmakers of the 1920s and 1930s used cabriole legs and a bow or dome front on burr walnut cocktail cabinets. Twenty-five listings use that exact phrasing, which makes it the single most repeated description in the category.

What is a surprise drinks cabinet?

A piece that doesn't look like a drinks cabinet until it opens. A table or chest whose top or sides lift, swing or rise to reveal the fitted interior. Nine titles use the word. Alongside them sit metamorphic, rise-and-fall, revolving-door and pop-up examples, which turn up steadily but never in numbers.

Are French drinks cabinets found in this category?

Yes, as a small consistent thread of around one title in twenty, and they have grown on the live shelf. They take in kingwood, marquetry, and pieces described as Directoire and Empire.

Do older cabinets appear alongside the Deco ones?

They do, but in modest numbers. Mahogany drinks and side cabinets from the Edwardian period and earlier make up about a sixth of the category. Chiffoniers, corner cupboards and trolleys also appear, listed for drinks use rather than built for it. A handful of Victorian, Regency and nineteenth-century entries sit among them.