C1920 Sports Table - Collecting at its best when you’ve never seen something before!

[CarltonHendricks]

C1920 Sports Table
23” wide
Made in Austria

Every once in a while I come across something I’ve never seen before…Here would be the perfect example....The base folds, and I plan to store it and hang the top as a plaque in my hallway. Ran me $135.00 to get it shipped from England, which I don’t think was bad…should be here any day…hope it makes it OK. I sent out queries to people who might know something about it but have not heard anything. I don’t know if it’s a one of a kind or what. It looks pretty sturdy in the pictures and I speculate it may have been used in a café or something and maybe there were others…then again maybe it’s one of a kind…Or maybe Lord Rothchild or some other wealthy European baron had some made for his patio…I just don’t know…It’s going to be very interesting to unpack this thing and see it in person!

[deebro041]

That piece looks fabulous Carlton! It should accentuate your collection perfectly!!

[Jaybird]

What an interesting piece. Nice get and certainly for a good price!

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by Jaybird

What an interesting piece. Nice get and certainly for a good price!

Dan and Jason, Thanks, glad you approve...Jason, Re the "good price"...you're probably referring to the $135.00...that was just the shipping cost....I guess I wrote that a little confusing.

[martindl]

Great piece Carlton. How did you come about the Austrian attribution - is it marked?

[mjkm90]

Amazing Carlton!!!

[timzcardz]

WOW!

Unique and beautiful.

I could imagine sitting at that table enjoying drinks with a friend while discussing the table for a couple of hours.

[CarltonHendricks]

Thanks all for your approval….The seller mentioned in the eBay listing discription “Tables with this type of top are known to exist with Josef Maria Olbrich designed bases”….So from that I assumed others exsisted…and I asked the seller (twice) after I bought it if they knew of others but never got a reply.

Martindl, The seller listed it as Austrian in the title..and since I’ve seen so many other Austrian sports items like statues and plaques I assumed it was….However at this point I don’t really know for sure what it’s nationality. Now someone has told me it’s rumored to have been made in Amsterdam….but he didn’t provide anything solid to substantiate that.

I featured the table as next week’s Sports Antique of the Week on my site and have it up already…You can read everything I’ve learned so far there…including that it was purportedly made for the 1928 Olympics....and that I've located another for sale…see it on my home page at www.SportsAntiques.com .....Also, I fixed it up so the top rotates so you don't have to look at part of it upside down.

[rjackson44]

great job carlton ,,just stunning

[martindl]

Thanks for the info on the nationality. I was asking because neither the top nor bottom looks Austrian in design. The base appears to be English, and a good 40+ years older than the 1928 attribution. Of course, the base and top could be two separate items from two separate times, though your friend Hans suggests otherwise. The stays on the back of the top are interesting, in that the look off center i.e. homemade.
Like you, I thought the top had Indian elements, though Morrocan and Turkish designs were all the rage in the 20's. Very Moorish. With the zeppelin and monoplane being there, it's got to date from that time frame, surely.

Great item and good luck with your research. That's where the real fun is.