What kind of stand turns up most often?

The hall stick and umbrella stand. "Stick" appears in 819 titles and "umbrella" in 566, and the two are often paired in a single title. Bodies are brass on a cast-iron base, cast iron throughout, or turned or coopered oak and mahogany. Corner and demi-lune plans recur.

Which woods and metals dominate?

Mahogany leads by a distance, named in 936 titles, nearly one in five. Oak follows at 529 and walnut at 179. On the metal side, brass appears in 598 titles and iron in 374, of which 274 specify cast iron. Cast iron is the signature material of the hall stand. Marble turns up mainly on pedestals and jardinière stands.

How old are these usually?

Dealer-supplied dates run from 1750 to 1960, with 2,109 listings carrying a clean year. The single most common period label is the broad "19th Century", on 1,010 listings. Where decades are given they cluster between the 1880s and the 1930s. Eighteenth-century pieces exist, including George III butler's trays and urn stands, but they are a small minority.

Are stands sold as pairs?

Pairs account for 295 titles. They gather in plant stands, torchères and pedestals rather than in hall furniture. Hall stick and umbrella stands are almost always singletons.

Do named makers appear on stands?

A handful recur. Gillows and James Shoolbred each turn up with five dealers, Thonet with four, and Coalbrookdale and William Tonks & Sons with three apiece. Coalbrookdale appears on stick and umbrella stands, including one pierced for thirty-six umbrellas. Bentwood stands can carry a stamp. Elsewhere the name comes only as an attribution, against hundreds of unattributed listings.

What unusual things appear under this heading?

Black Forest carving is a recurring novelty: bears, owls, a chamois head. Chinese and East Asian hardwood stands are a persistent minority, with "chinese" in 170 titles, including marble-inset plant stands and small display stands. Off-piste entries surface now and then, among them a 17th-century carved oak stand, a suit of armour on a stand, and library globes at the top of the range.