This Egyptian Revival parlor table constructed by Allen and Brother is an impressive one.  A table like this is shown in the May 1996 issue of Magazine Antiques and I wouldn’t be surprised to know that the table’s owner at the time, Judith Hollander, had subsequently donated it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where I photographed this.  I don’t know for sure.

Made of Walnut, burl Circassian walnut, ebonzing, gilt incising, and marble, it is a large table - 30 7/8 x 30 3/4 x 59 inches. The marble top on this table is breathtaking and I would have liked to step up on a ladder to photograph it but they don’t exactly have those standing by for museum goers to use.

I still lust over some of the Allen and Brother items we’ve seen come up for sale over the past year.

Related items currently available for sale

As an owner of 4 Merklen tables and being a big fan of their work, I just about fell out of my chair when I came across this familiar Merklen table that has been completely painted - Pink. Thank goodness they saw fit to spare the brass feet and the griffins supporting the second tier table top. I may be up for a rescue …

Here are two of the [unpainted] Merklen’s that I own:

Considering the recent flurry of Hunzinger mania at the auctions as you remember from this post, and the fact that a “Hunzinger” shaving mirror went for $3,700 this past weekend. I thought I’d reward the Rare Victorian readers by pointing them to a possible Hunzinger fern stand that you can score for about 1/10th the cost of that shaving stand - $350 and possibly less at Red Barn antiques in New Egypt, New Jersey. This shop is a new find for me and I was impressed by their inventory which is primarily Victorian. I don’t have a lot of good Victorian shops to haunt in my region, so this was a welcome discovery.

Be aware that there is a major crack in the top of this stand and that is why it is so inexpensive. Many of these tables have had this problem and you will find them with replacement tops. Even one of the tables in the Barry Harwood Hunzinger book has had a top replacement. If you have the book, see pages 80-83 for a comparison to the table above.

If you call or visit Red Barn, Ask for Jeff or Dan and tell them John at RareVictorian.com sent you. First one to Red Barn gets it…

I happened to be perusing an old article from May ‘99 in The Magazine Antiques and noticed that this table at Neal Auction, attributed to Berkey & Gay, is actually in a photo from an 1870 catalog photograph. This table was done by Kilian Brothers and if you happen to have the article, look at figure 2.

I don’t know if others feel this way but I’ve been lamenting for about a year or more about the disappearance of nice parlor tables in the market. It seems that prior to that, I could find nice tables at my local auction and shops that I frequent, but the “good ones” have disappeared and tend to only be appearing in the major auctions.

The table above will get sold today as lot “0140″ and more pictures and details can be found here. You can read a little bit more about Kilian Brothers in an old post here.

Tom Webster is a wood turner from Indianapolis, Indiana and he sent me these photos of a Merklen-inspired table that he created from Curly Oak. I’m very impressed by the reproduction of the triple-spiral legs that Merklen used to produce and you can see an image below of an authentic Merklen table with that feature. Tom has been reproducing these tables for years and keeps going back to the Merklen designs due to their heavy use of rope and barley twists. Although he didn’t use it on this table, he has some original Merklen hardware which he will be using on the next table. Generally, Merklen Bros. used wood ball and claw feet on their designs.

Tom is a full-time professional wood turner and can reproduce missing furniture parts if you have a need. I have an original Merklen that needs a stretcher finial, so Tom, I may be contacting you about that. He can be reached at this email address.

More pictures of Tom’s table: