Featured Antique French Bombay End Tables

Pretty sure these are old. I think I see straight saw marks. All of the joints/dovetails look hand carved. Wood has an old feel to it with possible shrinkage. Carvings look hand made as they have imperfections.

Nails kind of throw me off. They look post industrial, but I could be wrong.

My guess would be mid to late 1800s. If not for the nails I would say early 1800s, because I am fairly certain they are post ind.

Obviously I know my opinion comes with little experience and knowledge, but I am trying here.

 

The word is bombe, (should have an accent on the e) meaning curved fronted.

I think they may be a bit younger than you think.

 

Why do you say its younger?

 

They don't "smell" old to me either, at least not that old.

 

Looking again, it looks like one of the nails may be galvanized. Also the craftsmanship was off apparently and not nailed in properly and came in at an angle which is why it was exposed.

 

I vote newer(50s-60s) as well.The quality just isnt there for truly old ones.

 

Yep, 1950-65. To go with those "new formalist" interiors.

 

Agree with the others. The plywood back and drawer bottoms are the most glaring signs.

 

Thanks for the info. I guess what threw me off was seeing that a lot of it was done by hand and the wood just looked old to me.

I do see staples on it as well, but can't find any info as to when they were being used in furniture. Obviously that is a post industrial tool, but all I can find is the history on using staples for paper. Any ideas on when you start seeing furniture with staples in it?

 

Pneumatic staples began being used commonly in the 60s and ubiquitous by the 70s. You sometimes see larger staples that were hammered in used in earlier pieces.

 

Sorry I can't help with dating but I do agree they look mid century.

How much did you pay for them? They are quite beautiful.

 

Probably too much. $90 for both.

 

Thats not bad. You got nice looking end tables for $45 apiece,youd pay more than that for Ikea crap. Enjoy them for what they are,use them and love them.

 

These are for resell. I do mostly mcm for myself personally, although I do like these.

On the topic of reselling, I did wade into the waters of chalk painting furniture last week. I bought a 1930s/40s table and chair set for nearly nothing that needed refinishing. I refinished the top, but threw white chalk paint on the legs, and a turquoise blue chalk on the chairs and I sold that thing in less than a day. Had a lot of interest in it.

I am not personally a fan of paint on on good wood, but the table sold so fast I am going to try it on some other pieces.

 

Just my humble opinion but let me tell you what these two pieces of furniture have going for them . . . they are storage pieces. Think about that.

Their "style" may not be your "style" (because you said they were bought for "resell"), but "things" (lamp, books, magazines, flower vases, candy dishes, an alarm clock if used in a bedroom, etc.) could be placed on the flat top(s), there is a small (not deep) drawer under the top for more items, and then (the "cherry on top" so to speak) there is the larger, more "commodious" (a pun of sorts ) storage in the lower section with a door so nobody is forced to see whatever is stored in each one.