Why do cricket tables have three legs?

The third leg suits uneven flagged and earth floors, which is what farmhouses, taverns and dairies had. Tables of this form were made from the 17th century onward. The name is a later collectors' term rather than one used at the time.

What timber are they usually made from?

Oak appears in 170 titles and pine in 129, so between them they cover well over half the category. Elm is third, in 45. Behind those come ash, sycamore, walnut, mahogany, fruitwood, cherry, yew, chestnut, teak and sapele, each thinning out to a handful of listings or fewer.

How old are most of them?

The period field puts 175 in the 19th century and 102 in the 18th. Georgian appears in 65 titles and George III in 21, and for many listings a century or a reign is the whole of the dating claim. The dated field runs from 1700 to 1960, though only 95 listings carry a clean year. Titles and the dated field occasionally disagree with one another. Seventeenth-century examples are scarce, with ten listings in that period.

Are Welsh cricket tables a separate type?

Wales is the single most-named place of origin, in 102 titles, which is about a fifth of the category. Welsh oak and Welsh pine each recur, and sycamore and fruitwood turn up in the same group. Regional labels go finer in some descriptions, with Snowdonia, Monmouthshire and the Welsh borders all appearing. Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands and Westmorland each appear only once or twice.

Do painted examples come up often?

Painted appears in 35 titles, and painted pine in 21. Scrubbed and bleached tops feature as well, mostly on pine. Original paint, meaning the period surface kept rather than stripped, is used as a selling point through the dearer half of the listings.

Can you buy them as a pair?

Almost never. Three listings in the whole archive offer two tables together. About 53 cricket tables come to market on Sellingantiques in a year, and 100 different dealers have listed one, so the form is handled by country-furniture dealers generally rather than by specialists.

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Antique Cricket Tables

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A cricket table is a small country table on three legs with a round plank top, made in solid native timber for farmhouses, taverns and dairies where floors were rarely level.