Why are canterburys sold as magazine racks?

The form started as a music stand and was put to newspapers and magazines through the 19th century. Dealers title them accordingly. Magazine appears in 127 titles, rack in 100 and magazine rack in 81. Magazine stand, newspaper and tidy fill out the rest, so the same object arrives under several headings.

What wood are most canterburys made from?

Mahogany leads with 230 titles, walnut follows at 184 and rosewood at 150. Burr walnut alone accounts for 105. Oak and ebonised examples make a small showing, around ten and nine titles. One-off timbers such as satinwood, amboyna, yew, bog oak and Cuban mahogany appear once or twice each.

How reliable are the Regency and Georgian dates?

Read them as style-and-period judgements. Only 169 of 665 listings carry a clean year, and the rest are filed under broad labels, with 19th Century the commonest at 158. The labels also mix. Georgian Regency turns up in ten titles, and pieces dated 18th Century sit next to ones called Regency, so the early end of the range blurs.

Do canterburys usually have a drawer?

A drawer beneath the divisions is a recurring feature across the archive, on Regency and Victorian examples alike. Castors are the other common fitting. Titles cite brass castors, stamped castors and original castors, and stated original fittings sit higher in the range.

Are bamboo canterburys common?

No. Bamboo runs to about thirteen titles, taken together with lacquered, panelled, chinoiserie, Aesthetic and Moorish descriptions. One of them is a hand-painted tiger bamboo table with a magazine rack. These sit among the lower-priced entries.

What unusual forms turn up?

Revolving canterburys, a metamorphic stand, X-frame and dishtop Regency models, and wine-bottle canterburys all appear. Hybrids are the other oddity: coffee tables with a canterbury end, canterbury lamp tables, a cocktail service stand and a lectern-style reading table. The clean-dated pieces run 1800 to 1930, and these later combinations sit at the far end.

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Antique Canterbury

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A canterbury is a low, open stand on legs, partitioned into divisions and often fitted with castors and a drawer, made to sit beside a chair or piano and hold sheet music, folios, newspapers or magazines.