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June, 2018 The Antique Shoppe Page 19
By the Middle Ages dinner time had graduated to the great room where
boards laid on trestles acted like dining tables until they were cleared SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
away to make room for entertainment. By the sixteenth century a more or ...and get 12 issues, ONE FULL YEAR,
less solid table came into use in Europe based on tables used originally send to your home or business
in Italian refectories, the dining halls of monasteries, that featured the For ONLY $17.12!
old plank top but this time it was permanently attached to a strong base Please start my one year subscription
that had legs at each corner and rails below to provide stability. The early Name ______________________________ (12 issues) to: The Antique Shoppe
models used in monasteries could be built long enough to seat as many Address ____________________________ beginning with your next issue.
monks as was required. The idea of the refectory table, or the stretcher ________________________________________________________________________
table as it was sometimes called, was adopted for private family dining City ____________________________ ST ___________ Zip _____________________
simply by a reduction in scale. That was a grand idea until somebody Contact (Phone or email) _________________________________________________
dropped by for dinner. Credit Card Number Exp. ________________________________________________
Please include check Payable to Antique Shoppe or provide credit card information
It wasn’t long before somebody in Elizabethan England of the late Mail to: Antique Shoppe, Attn: Subscriptions
1500s came up with the idea of making the table expandable using PO Box 2175, Keystone Hts, FL 32656
additional planks for the top. The planks, called leaves, were stored under
the main top surface of the table, sliding in between the top and the frame
of the base. They could then be drawn out to expand the table top. Thus, I-95 LPGA Blvd New
was born the first extension table, the draw leaf table or simply the draw 265 Mason Ave Daytona
Int’l Speedway Blvd
table. That style table has been in continuous production since that time. Dunn Ave 483 RidgewoodAve Peninsula
N Beach St
92
The draw table was the last word in extension tables for nearly a 261 400 Beville Rd Smyrna
century until a new idea of using the leaves came around. Instead of 260 132 Clyde Morris US1 A1A
sliding the leaves under the original top the new idea hung the leaves 421 Beach
on hinges at each side of the table. When they were not needed for the 256 S Atlantic Ave
top surface they could be lowered or dropped down out of the way. That 5
Int’l Speedway Blvd
solved one problem but presented others.” The most obvious of those was US1
how to support the leaves when they needed to be up. The other was to Ridgewood Ave Peninsula New Smyrna
92 600
I-4
92 Pioneer Trail Flagler Beach
accomplish that and still leave room for the legs - the diner’s legs. 44 I-95 1 NorthCswy 44
17
New York Ave
600 249 44 Canal 2 Edgewater
Early seventeenth century examples of drop leaf tables solved the 10th St Riverside Dr A1A
15
support problem using gate legs, legs that swung out from the main table W Park Ave
structure using an open gate-like frame to stabilize a mobile leg mounted Indian River Blvd
on hinges to the table frame to support the leaf. That meant that whoever 442
sat at that position at the table had to straddle the leg. And like the draw NSB ANTIQUE MALL
table, that was that for about another century until American (or at least
Colonial) ingenuity stepped up to the plate. Quality Vintage & Mid-Century Furniture
Art - Vintage Toys - Estate Jewelry
The next bright idea was the butterfly table introduced around 1700.
The table itself was not shaped like a butterfly but the drop leaf support From New Smyrna’s Oldest Antique Shop
was. It was a swinging piece of wood that rotated out. It was shaped like 419 Canal Street • 386-426-7825
a butterfly wing or a ship’s rudder and was fastened to the table top frame www.newsmyrnaantiquemall.com • skd43@cfl.rr.com
on the top edge and inserted into the lower stretcher between the fixed Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm
legs. The shape of the butterfly meant that no diner had to straddle the leg Spend a day shopping
and since it took up no floor space it did not impede foot space. in New Smyrna Bch.
7 Area Antique Shops
That was followed by “D” end tables of the early 1800s that could be +Many Fine Restaurants.
joined to make a big table and a few examples of early extension tables Sure to be an adventure!
that had a complex “accordion” extension mechanism. 1
Then by the mid-19th century along came the prototype interlocking
wooden slides that would become the standard for the next century and
half (so far). It just took a while. Coronado Antiques

Send your comments, questions and pictures to me at PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL & Collectibles Mall
34423 or email them to me at info@furnituredetective.com Over 7,000 sq.ft. of Home Decor, Antiques, Mid-Century Modern,
Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com and check out the Nautical & Coastal Furnishings and Much More!
downloadable “Common Sense Antiques” columns in .pdf format. His book “HOW TO
BE A FURNITURE DETECTIVE” is now available for $18.95 plus $3.00 shipping. Send 1433 South Dixie Freeway
check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 New Smyrna Shopping Center - (US 1 South)
Fred and Gail Taylor's DVD, "IDENTIFICATION OF OLDER & ANTIQUE FURNITURE", New Smyrna Beach, FL
($17.00 + $3.00 S&H) are also available at the same address. For more information call
(800) 387-6377 (9AM-4PM Eastern, M-F only), fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail 386-428-3331
info@furnituredetective.com. All items are also available directly from the website, OPEN Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 12-5pm
www.furnituredetective.com
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