Drum Table

by Liza Laserow

An English drum table in mahogany from the early part of the 19th Century

http://laserowantiques.1stdibs.com/store/furniture_item_detail.php?id=536020

The drum table was introduced in the late 18th Century and consists of a heavy circular top resting on a central pedestal with four elegantly tapered legs terminating on brass casters. The deep top usually covered with tooled leather, had fitted bookshelves or drawers, some of which were imitation. An alternative name for the table was a loo table (so called because the card game known as lanterloo was played at such a table). A variant of the drum table, called a rent table had a circular or polygonal top and the drawers in the frieze being were labeled with the days of the week and constituting a filing system for the rent collector.