How high should a tea table be?

Most sit around twenty-eight inches from the floor. This height suited the low seat furniture of the eighteenth century. They're sometimes made specifically as urn stands or candle stands to push more light into a room.

The top of this table spins around as well as tilts up, so is there a specific name for that fitting?

Dealers call that a birdcage action. It consists of two square blocks separated by four small turned pillars. The mechanism sits between the main column and the table top. It let someone pour tea and spin the surface to pass a cup without getting out of their chair.

Can you fix a wobbly base?

Yes. Loose legs are standard wear. A cabinetmaker will clean out the old animal glue and re-seat the joint.

Why do some of the mahogany table tops have a slightly faded patch right in the centre while the edges are much darker?

Sunlight changes the colour of mahogany over decades. If a table sat in a bay window with a vase in the middle, the exposed wood fades while the covered section retains its dark hue. Polishers call this a sun shadow. It tells you the table stood in one place for a generation or more. You rarely see it on pieces that moved around busy taverns.

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Antique Tripod Tables

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Antique tripod tables feature a circular or square top resting on a single central column that branches into three splayed legs, designed originally in the eighteenth century for serving tea or holding candlesticks in firelit rooms.