Antique Victorian Burr Walnut Oval Loo Table 19th C & set 4 Chairs

Loo table 
is a table model from the 18th and 19th centuries, originally designed for the card game loo, which was also known as lanterloo.

The typical loo table has an oval or round top, and a hinged mechanism fitted to a pedestal base, enabling the table to be easily stored when not in use. Sometimes, antique dealers call any table with a folding mechanism for a "loo table", even if the table top is square or rectangular.

A loo-table stands in the hall at Midnight Place in the children's fiction book Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken.

Walnut & Burr Walnut

Walnut is a hard, dense, tight- grained wood that polishes to a very smooth finish. It is a popular and attractive wood whose colour ranges from near white in the sapwood to a dark hew in the heartwood. When dried in a kiln, walnut wood tends to develop a dull brown colour, but when air-dried can become a rich purplish-brown. Because of its colour, hardness and grain, it is a prized furniture and carving wood. Walnut veneer was highly priced and the cost would reflect the ‘fanciness’ of the veneer – the more decorative, then the more expensive and desirable.

Burr walnut refers to the swirling figure present in nearly all walnut when cut and polished, and especially in the wood taken from the base of the tree where it joins the roots. However the true burr is a rare growth on the tree where hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow. Burr walnut produces some of the most complex and beautiful figuring you can find.

Walnut "burrs" were often used to make fabulous furniture.  Veneer sliced from walnut burl is one of the most valuable and highly prized by cabinet makers and prestige car manufacturers and is also a favourite material for shotgun stocks.

 Inlay was commonly used in the production of decorative burr walnut furniture, where pieces of coloured veneers are inlaid into the surface of the walnut, adding delicate or intricate patterns and designs. Inlays normally use various exotic  veneers, but other materials such as  mother-of-pearl, brass or bone were  also be used.