Help me please and fast OLD oriental table I think real OLD

Totally out of my league here. I am bringing this to the Springfield extravaganza tomorrow. Just got it at 10:30 tonight took pictures in my garage at 11pm sorry not going to be the best. I might be crazy but this might be a once in a lifetime find. I go back a long way and I trust your guys opinions. Can you tell me anything about the age and value of this table it is about 6' long and has three drawers. It does not seem to have a nail in it all the legs and such go through the other piece. Hopefully you can tell something from these pictures. These pictures suck and were taken with a flash. The close ups show how the wood is joinded through the pieces, how the drawers are dovetailed. The drawers have slanted fronts and the botom of the drawers are beveled like I have never seen before. Another little tidbit is the drawer pulls are not bolted through the drawers but must be screwed through the front. Ok any help before I sell a masterpiece for pennies on the dollar. One last thing if this was made out of any wood I would think of it should weigh twice as much as it does. I would think the 2" thick plank on top would weigh as much as this piece does total

TIA, Bryan

 

Oh and the person I got it from called it a monks table, but that does not seem to help to search

 

These were in the import stores not all that long ago. Some were antique but others were made to look old. I think Chinese in origin and often referred to as an altar table. The simplicity and pine (?) wood used in yours makes me think not all that old.

Here is a nice old antique one.


This one is more similar to yours. Says it is elm and it seems they got a good price.



http://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique/antique_chinese_altar_table/as075a2141

 

An old piece would knot have used notty wood

 

IMO has no antique nor collector value, only utilitarian for someone who needs a table that size and doesn't have much money. If you can get $50. for it you should be happy. But I dunno know much about the current furniture market.

 

Hi Bryan,
Glad to see you posting again. This is one table that I think would do much better painted and then faux grained. As it is when just a coat of paint would help hide the cheapness of the wood. Painted even a dark dark red would help. I could do wonders with it, a red or black lacquer finish with faded gold accents if would be a nice altar table. Sorry but in it's present state I agree with Spring, take the 50 and run.
greg

 

Just wanted to thank you for your help. I talked to two different dealers who imported these in the 90's they agreed with you guys except they said you could sell these for about $600 to $700. This was not mine and the guy who got it has no money into it. So thanks for educating me

 

so how much did you sell it for ?

 

Did the dealers you talked to see a pic of it? I can see the numbers mentioned for a nicely-crafted, hardwood one but not the one pictured.

 

They saw it in person and remember most of the pictures are of the drawers which I removed the drawers are definitely made of cheaper wood and are much newer. This was not mine but a friends and they got it for nothing but I brought it to the show to get some opinions and would have only sold it if it was worth more than $1000 I did have a lot of people want the piece but no takers at that price. BTW I displayed it without the drawers.

 

Remember those pictures were taken in a dark garage with a flash it looks very impressive in real light at least the body. When you take the drawers out there is what looks like deep rubs where there were swinging doors in the middle compartment and the outside compartments look like it had slide fronts with wear showing. One dealer said this was all intended to deceive and even the older looking repairs were done on purpose. He showed me a very old looking oriental doors complete with rose head nails used for a repair which were done to add to the deception of them being old. Just sharing with you what I learned

 

2 opinions here call for no more than $50.
2 different dealers call for $600 to $700 .
The guy who owns it got it for free.
& you dragged it to a show ... & there were a lot of interested folks willing to buy it...... but you weren't going to sell it for less than $1000.

WTF ?