Italian antique wooden table with lyre legs, 1800s

Italian antique wooden table with two drawers and turned legs, 1800s Dining table with rectangular top made entirely of wood. With two drawers with round wooden knobs, it has decorat...

Italian antique wooden fratino table with decorated legs, 1700s Refectory fratino table with rectangular top. It has four legs and two richly decorated and shaped diagonal central be...

Italian antique round and finely worked wood dining table, 1800s Dining table with round top, entirely in solid wood. The central structure and the 3 curly legs are turned and fi...

Italian antique walnut round and finely worked wood dining table, 1800s Antique dining table with round top, entirely in dark walnut wood. The central structure and the curly leg...

Italian antique wooden coffee table with two drawers, late 1800s Round coffee table made entirely of wood. It has a round top with two dra...

Italian antique Wooden table fratino with a drawer, 1900s Rectangular wooden fratino table. The supporting structure of the top is made up of seve...

Beautifully time-worn, antique, Southern European, chestnut wood end or side table. This relatively small size antique table is a joy to look at and the history of this kind of table makes it very interesting as well. Pay tables or paying tables were initially used by tax collectors and later in time (in the latter part of the middle ages), when most cities started to have their own currency, came the need for 'money exchangers'. A lot of the first money exchangers in 'early Netherlands' came from the Italian region of Lombardy and their name for these paying tables was 'banco'. Yes, it is this where also the English word 'bank' originates from. Pretty soon these money exchangers, who mainly serviced businessmen and travelers, also started 'safekeeping' and lending money. These tables therefor are at the very root of banking and just like some banks in this day and age, some of these earliest 'bankers' did not keep enough cash in their tables to be able to pay out when clients needed their money. This sometimes would lead to a lynching whereby the table of that particular money lender would be broken into pieces. The Italian word for such a broken table...

An Italian walnut farm table circa 1800 with carved legs, plain cross stretcher and nicely aged patina. This Italian walnut farm table, circa 1800, exudes a sense of rustic elegance ...

This old table hails from pre-1890 rural Denmark, commonly found in kitchens with foldable side extensions for added space. A distinct piece, it carries the charm of a work of art. ...

The fine square table is topped with a floating panel, enclosed within a flush sided frame, supported on square-sectioned corner legs, braced with straight stretchers and vertical st...

A Spanish wooden coffee table, with lyre legs and iron stretcher, from the turn of the 19th and 20th century. This antique table from Spain...

An English Georgian period oak side table from the early 19th century, with single drawer, turned legs and stretchers. Born in England during the early years of the 19th century, thi...