How common are tilt top tables on Sellingantiques?

Around 181 are listed in a year, and 279 different dealers have handled one. That makes it one of the most widely stocked table forms on the marketplace. The spread of dealers matters more than the number. It means the form turns up in almost every kind of stock, from country oak to large veneered centre tables.

What wood are they usually made from?

Mahogany appears in 807 of 1,634 titles, so you are more likely than not looking at a mahogany table before anything else is said. Oak comes next, then rosewood and walnut. Elm, fruitwood, cherry, yew, burr oak and ash show up among the country and provincial examples.

Are birdcage tilt tops the normal type?

No. Between the two spellings, birdcage is named in only 53 titles, so it's a minority feature rather than the standard. Where it does appear, it's most often on 18th century mahogany and oak examples. The block lets the top revolve as well as tilt.

What's the difference between a wine table and a supper table?

Both are tilt tops on the small side. Wine tables run to about 160 titles and are frequently paired with lamp in the same description. Supper tables appear in around sixty titles and lean towards oak and country making. Neither name marks a fixed size.

Which tilt top tables sit at the top of the range?

Large marquetry and specimen-wood centre tables, rather than any tripod form. Size counts too: sampled titles naming six seats, eight seaters, a 48-inch diameter top and a 4.5ft round centre table sit high. The bottom of the range is almost entirely small mahogany and oak tripods.

Do unusual or non-English examples turn up?

Only in ones and twos. Swedish birch and alder root, French vendange and gueridon, Italian Sorrento, Black Forest linden wood, Anglo-Indian and Burmese padauk, and Chinese lacquer each appear that thinly. One-offs in the record include a papier mache top inlaid with mother of pearl, a penwork games top, a specimen marble top, an Irish Killarney yew marquetry table and a cast iron adjustable bed table. Pairs are just as scarce, with only two sampled titles offering more than one table together.

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Antique Tilt Top Tables

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A table whose top is hinged to the pillar so it swings upright, made from the early 18th century onward so a small table could stand against a wall, and later scaled up for round tops that had to be cleared from the middle of a room.