Antique Wine Tables
A wine table is a small pedestal or tripod table, usually under a couple of feet across, made to stand beside a chair and hold a glass, a decanter, a candle or a kettle.
Antique Wine Tables
The form is English and eighteenth-century in origin: a turned column on three splayed feet, carrying a circular top. "Wine table" is largely a later trade name for the smallest of them. Tripod appears in a fifth of titles on Sellingantiques, and many of those tops tilt, so the table can be turned vertical and set against a wall.
Mahogany dominates, and the Georgian to Victorian mahogany tripod with a tilting or snap top is the version you are most likely to meet. Country tables in oak, elm, fruitwood and yew form the next group, then late Victorian and Edwardian inlaid and revival work in walnut, burr walnut and satinwood.
The heading is a naming convention as much as a shape. The same small table is sold as wine, lamp, side and occasional, often two or three of those words at once: occasional turns up in 369 titles, lamp in 312, side in 249. Reading past the function word to the timber, the base and the top edge tells you more.
Two smaller strands run through it. French vendange or wine-tasting tables, marble-topped bistro tables and guéridons account for a modest share, and pairs, near pairs and stacking quartetto nests are a persistent minority. Dating is loose: of 2,073 listings only 672 carry a clean year, and '19th Century' is the commonest entry of all.
The Range
Timber sets the floor and the ceiling. Plain mahogany carries the bulk of the category, while tables described as Cuban or plum pudding mahogany, burr walnut, burr oak, burr elm, yew, amboyna, thuyawood or olive-wood sit consistently higher. Figure is what the eye buys, and dealers put it in the title when they have it.
After timber comes work at the edge. Carved piecrust rims, dished tops turned from the solid, scalloped edges and pierced or brass galleries recur at the top of the range; a turned column with an undecorated circular top sits at the bottom. On later tables, inlay does the same job, with marquetry and satinwood stringing lifting Victorian and Edwardian burr walnut examples.
Age tells, though not as neatly as the labels suggest. Eighteenth-century and Georgian tables concentrate in the upper half, while 1920s revival pieces titled Georgian Revival or Regency Style cluster lower. Pairs and quartetto nests of four appear more often near the top than singles do, and a Gillows name does the same.
Antique Wine Tables Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for wine tables, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The most expensive wine table ever sold on Sellingantiques was a finely carved piecrust occasional table, in January 2024.
Gillows
The Antique Wine Tables Glossary
- Tripod
- A turned central column standing on three splayed legs. It is the standard base for the form and appears in a fifth of titles.
- Tilt top, snap top, tip top
- A top hinged to the pedestal so it swings vertical. The three terms describe the same action and are used interchangeably.
- Occasional, lamp, side
- Function words applied to the same small table, frequently two or three at a time in one title. They tell you little about the piece itself.
- Birdcage
- A small boxed cage of turned pillars set between the top and the pedestal, letting the top revolve as well as tilt.
- Pie crust
- A scalloped, carved edge worked around a circular top. Dished tops, turned from one board with a raised rim left standing in the solid, are a related treatment.
- Vendange table
- French low table made for the grape harvest, to hold bottles and glasses during tasting, usually in fruitwood, oak or walnut.
Antique Wine Tables: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a wine table used for?
Small tripod and pedestal tables of this size came into general use in England in the eighteenth century as movable stands beside a chair, holding a candle, a kettle, a glass or a decanter.
The name itself is largely a later trade description for the smallest examples. Candlestand and kettle stand turn up in a handful of titles for the same object.
Why are they also called lamp or occasional tables?
Because dealers list one table under several names. Occasional appears in 369 titles, lamp in 312 and side in 249, and many listings use two or three of those words about a single piece.
The form underneath is the same: a small top on a turned column and three feet.
Which wood is most common?
Mahogany, by a distance. It appears in 962 titles, with oak, walnut, rosewood and satinwood trailing well behind.
Elm, yew, amboyna, thuyawood, olive-wood, birch root and cherrywood each surface only a handful of times, usually on country tables or continental work.
How old are most of these tables?
The dated field runs from 1750 to 1940. Only 672 of 2,073 listings carry a clean year, so era labels do most of the work.
Georgian, Victorian, Regency and Edwardian all appear in quantity, and the labels overlap. Twentieth-century stock is substantial, meaning a meaningful slice of the category is revival work rather than period.
Are French wine tables different?
They are a distinct strand, if a small one, with 86 titles saying French. Vendange or wine-tasting tables were made low, for the grape harvest, in cherrywood, walnut and oak.
Alongside them come marble-topped bistro tables and guéridons, the French small round pedestal table.
Do they come in pairs?
Yes. Pair appears in 109 titles, covering matched pairs and near pairs, and nests of three, four and five stacking quartetto tables also turn up.
Pairs and nests appear disproportionately at the upper end of the range.