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Val123's avatar

Can you tell me what kind of table this is?

Asked by Val123 (12734points) June 7th, 2010

I picked it up for a quarter at auction. It’s just a square little table with tapering legs. Someone had painted it and had covered the top in some sort of plastic-like fabric. It was U-GLY! I almost left it there. Then my son said it thought he could use it so we looked at it more carefully. Well….pretty sure it’s an antique. Nice wood under the paint (maple or cherry, not sure which.) Then we noticed something curious on the underside. It looked like some portion of the table could spin, like a lazy Susan.

After he got home my son took the top covering off. OK, it’s like it has two tops, both the same size and square, but the top top spins around! Pretty darn cool! And I’ll be it’s worth more than a quarter. What is it? A library table of some sort? (My son wants to turn it into a poker table for cheating purposes! rangerr…..I’m not talking about the son you know. I’m talking about the UGLY with no neck, K?)

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37 Answers

dpworkin's avatar

Got a pic? Sounds like a nice home made Scrabble table.

Val123's avatar

@dpworkin It’s at my son’s and I didn’t have my camera with me. I don’t think it’s homemade simply because there is a number stamped on the bottom, like a lot number or something. Scrabble? How would that be a good Scrabble table?

zenele's avatar

Perfect question for General.

rebbel's avatar

@Val123 “How would that be a good Scrabble table?”
Because it rotates all four players can turn it to their side so they can read it properly.
We had a Scrabble game that came with a wooden cross with little wheels to place the board on.

Val123's avatar

@zenele I hate the general section. If they help me get if figured out, and then want to run around and play in this question, they can. You guys wanna play Scrabble when we’re done?

@rebbel That makes perfect sense! I don’t play Scrabble much, and couldn’t figure out the advantage to having that table, but I’ll’ bet you guys are right on. But….my son still wants to use it as a gag poker table! :)

zenele's avatar

I’m up for a game. give me 7 random letters, here are yours: AKLTUND

Waiting…

We could also play Anti-Scrabble
Anti-Scrabble — or Alt-Scrabble, as it is known in some quarters — requires the use of all that is disallowed in standard Scrabble (not including made-up words or random letters), including proper nouns, acronyms, all foreign words (foreign relative to the language of the Scrabble set being used), expressive noises such as “nooooo” and “mwoohahaha”, and abbreviations. In the case of acronyms, one must declare what it is one is referring to, and in the case of a challenge, if the declared acronym is not found but another acronym using the same letters is found, that particular combination of letters is nonetheless disallowed. This is to prevent the practice of “acronym fishing” in which one puts down a random letter combination in the hopes that it will be found to be a legitimate acronym (most combinations of 2 or 3 letters turn out to be actual acronyms)

rebbel's avatar

@Val123
How big is it then, since your son wants to play poker on it?
And how’s he gonna cheat?
The other players probably gonna notice when he turns the table around to check their cards….~

rangerr's avatar

@Val123 You have more than one son… But only one is hot? How does that work?

Val123's avatar

@rangerr Here is a picture of my other son He is the only one I will ever be talking about on here again!!!

@rebbel It’s not very big! He’ll get other guys in on the joke to make it work against one guy. :) Wish I could be there! He can be pretty smart and sneaky when he wants to be!

@zenele OK. I have AKLTUND….what do I do now? Try to make a word, like TALK?

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@Val123 If you could post a picture, it would be very helpful. The Shakers often custom built (or modified) odd pieces like this for a specific purpose. I’d have to see the design to verify my guess though.

zenele's avatar

Forget it.

Val123's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I know….I’ll try to remember to get one. That would be cool if it were Shaker! It’s got the lines and simplicity to be one…

dpworkin's avatar

It might be Shaker. It might also be from Pluto.

Val123's avatar

:) Never know. Want to see what else I picked up at Auction?

Picture doesn’t do it justice….this piece is in PERFECT condition! It’s beautiful. But I had to use a flash which washes everything out, you know.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/Dutchcat1/Misc/P5220139.jpg

NO!! That’s not it! That’s a duck!! I didn’t get a duck at auction! What would I do with a duck?! Let me try it again….

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/Dutchcat1/P6060002.jpg

My lens needs to be cleaned…like I said, not a great picture of a great piece of furniture!

rebbel's avatar

@Val123
Your son can use the drawers to put his playing cards, chips and money in (and a Scrabble game).

rangerr's avatar

@Val123 I spy hawt son pictures in that album.

janbb's avatar

Quixotic on a triple word square!

(And I’ve never seen a rotating Shaker table.)

Val123's avatar

I’ve never seen a rotating table at all. I can’t find anything online either. I’m starting to lean toward @dpworkin thought that someone modified an existing table. If it WAS for Scrabble though, there’s just one problem and that is the entire top rotates, not just a middle part. If they turned it everyone would have to pick their little letter holders. I’ll get a pic of it one of these says.

@rangerr shit!

anartist's avatar

It couldn’t possibly be a cut-down round table with a lazy susan apparatus on top???

janbb's avatar

Maybe it’s a table for eating Ethiopian food on?

dpworkin's avatar

Made by Shakers from the land of the Ethiope.

janbb's avatar

Are those colloquially known as Salt Shakers?

dpworkin's avatar

I think they are called “Shakers in the woodpile.”

janbb's avatar

Isn’t that the Shake ‘n Bake sect?

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

Shake ‘n Toke more likely.

Val123's avatar

@anartist Again, I know it would be best if I had a pic, but it’s at my son’s house and I didn’t have my camera with me. No, it’s not a round table, and never has been. I’m thinking it was just a simple end table that somebody modified with a 2nd top that spins around. The mechanism that allows it to spin is set under the table, not on top.

As for you Shakers in the woodpile up there…..I’M TELLIN’ THE MODS WHAT YOU’RE DOING!!! (NOT!:)

Maybe it was a small eating table modified for someone who can’t reach well. So they can just spin the top to get to their drink, or whatever! :) Could also be an Asian Ethieopia Shaker table made from a wood pile solely to eat Big Macs on. Could be.

janbb's avatar

@Val123 We know we can always kid around on your threads, honey.

Val123's avatar

Got that right! I love it. I learn more by free flowing associations than by dead “Yes,” “No,” types of conversations. I mean, I don’t always learn something, unless there is such a thing as Shakers from the land of the Ethiope, but laughing is never a waste of time!....Were there Shakers in Ethiope?

janbb's avatar

There was an obscure dissident sect that broke off from the Sabbathday Lake Shakers and moved to Ethiopia. They became known as the Pepper Shakers at that point. A little known fact; you read it here first

Val123's avatar

Gasp! They were the inspiration for “Sargent Peppers shaky hearts club band” weren’t they!! Wow!

janbb's avatar

Indeed they were.

Val123's avatar

It’s gotta be worth a FORTUNE on ebay to anyone who’s dumb enough to believe that story! Shall I try it? :)

janbb's avatar

@Val123 Publicly maligned for my knowledge and expertise! Last time I try to larn you anything!

anartist's avatar

Could you possibly have a rigged table for phoney seances???

Val123's avatar

@anartist I didn’t rig it! But that certainly is a unique thought!! :) Too small, tho, I think.

@janbb Giggle!!! :)

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