Is a buffet the same as a sideboard?

On this category the two words are effectively interchangeable. Sideboard appears in 548 of the 1,076 titles filed as buffets, and many titles run both words together. The difference that does matter is between an enclosed case with cupboards and drawers and an open stand of two or three tiers. Both are called buffets, and the title alone won't tell you which.

What wood are most of them?

Mahogany leads at 377 titles, oak follows at 218 and walnut at 124. Between them they account for two thirds of everything filed here. After that the list gets thin fast: cherry, chestnut, fruitwood, pear, apple, burr elm, burr ash, birch, elm, padouk, satinwood, amboyna, kingwood, macassar and palisander each appear only once or twice.

How old are these pieces?

The dated field runs from 1700 to 1940, and 418 listings carry a clean year. The earliest sampled piece is an oak dresser base entered as 1700; the latest are three French Art Deco sideboards entered as 1940. Most dating is looser than that. Blocks of listings land on round decades, and 217 say only 19th Century with a further 125 Victorian, so those are ranges rather than dates. The 20th century is present but thin, mainly the 1920s with a scatter later.

Are French buffets common on Sellingantiques?

French is in 168 titles, about a sixth of the category, and French pieces make up a larger share of what has already sold than of what is listed now. They come as two-door cupboard buffets, long enfilades and buffets de corps, often painted or with marble tops. Origins beyond England and France are genuinely uncommon, with single Danish, Swedish, Italian, Flemish, Belgian, Hungarian, Anglo-Indian and Chinese pieces against those 168.

Which types sit at the top of the range?

Credenzas cluster at the upper end, frequently burr walnut and mirrored. Monumental and exhibition-quality carved mirror-back pieces hold the very top. Age alone doesn't do it. Figured and burr timbers, marquetry, parquetry, boulle and ormolu mounts, and shaped or architectural fronts are what separate the upper part of the range from plain flat-fronted pine.

How often do buffets come up for sale?

Around 106 come to market a year on Sellingantiques, and 203 separate dealers have listed one. That spread makes it a category almost every general furniture dealer touches rather than a specialism. Pairs are unusual, though a handful of listings have offered two matching French buffets, two Swedish enfilades or a pair of 18th-century burr ash buffets.

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Antique Buffets

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A buffet is dining-room furniture for serving and storing at the side of the table, either an enclosed case of cupboards and drawers or an open stand of tiers.