Antique Dining Tables come in many different styles and sizes, dependant on what period they were made in. The earliest forms were from the Georgian period in a drop leaf design called the gateleg table. This was made of Oak with two drop leaves that extended to a larger size on a swinging support.
The Later Georgian period produced a large dining table in the form of two side console tables, that joined onto a central drop leaf table using brass D clips and this made a very large dining table to seat ten to twelve people. Although these are large pieces, they can be a little awkward as they have lots of legs, making it difficult to get chairs under.
The Victorian dining table did come with ingenuous designs, of a wind out, extending mechanism, enabling you to add several leaves in the centre when you want it larger for occasions when lots of guests arrive for dinner. As these tables only have four turned legs, they are easy to get lots of chairs under, so this makes very comfortable dining. They also stand on castors so it is easy to extend and close. They were mainly built in Oak, Mahogany or walnut as these timbers were readily available.
The Edwardian dining table, was very similar to its predecessor, as they still used the extending mechanism, but added more decorative inlay around the edges. They mainly stood on tapering legs with spade feet, but again on castors. The Edwardian cabinet maker also liked to reproduce older looking designs from the elegant Regency design with out swept legs, to the more rustic Refectory, farmhouse styles in Oak or pine.
