Vintage & Antique Game Tables Back in Style

In the good old 1950’s, no home was complete without a table with four matching chairs in the family room or den, where we could all sit around and play games. Whether it was board games like Monopoly or card games, family and friends gathered around and had a good time. Of course, this was all before the advent and meteoric sales of radios and televisions. Although the 1950’s was a good time for the game table, their beginnings go a lot further than that.

In the 18th century, most homes had a game table made for the family room or living room. The most basic of models featured a top that opened and spun to form a square table, however many more game tables were elaborately made using the best and most exotic woods and many were ornately designed. Later models even featured many trimmings including wells for gaming chips and or holders for drinks. However, in the 1900’s game tables lost their popularity.

Fast forward to 2007 and there is now resurgence in the popularity of the game table. Probably because Americans are spending more on finishing their basements and creating elaborate game rooms in their homes. Game tables are now available not only at the local antique shop or flea market, but reproductions are popping up everywhere. Checking the Internet we saw small game tables for just over $300 to more elaborate game tables going for thousands of dollars.

NOVA-Antiques Newsletter Archives – February 16, 2007 . . .

A Short History of the Lane Cedar Chest

Remember seeing that old cedar chest in Grandma’s house when you were growing up. Well aside from being a functional piece of antique furniture, chests have a rich history from earliest times as storage containers. Some of the earliest chests have their history with the amazing pharaoh’s of Ancient Egypt, where they were used to store golden treasures as well as the documents of the time. In modern times however, one of the largest and best known manufacturer of cedar chests was the Lane Furniture Company.

Edward Hudson Lane first founded the company in Altavista, Virginia in 1912. However, the Lanes were unsure of what success they would have selling chests, so they originally named their company The Standard Red Cedar Chest Company. Situated on a junction served by the Virginian and Southern Railways made it easy for the cedar chests, and later other furniture, produced by lane to be sold in many more cities and places outside of Virginia. It is interesting to note that although they had contracted with the federal government to produce pine ammunition boxes in their infancy, the height of their cedar chest days came during World War II.

In the 1920’s, Lane, whose tag line had been, “The gift that starts the home,” began advertising their cedar chests as “Hope Chests,” where young ladies could stockpile clothing and small furnishings in anticipation of a future marriage. Many of the advertisements at the time featured soldiers with their betrothed and other patriotic gestures. Later, Lane became known for and is still known for their quality furnishings and accent pieces. Mr. Lane passed away in 1973 and the last cedar chest to roll off their production line was manufactured in 2001.

NOVA-Antiques Newsletter Archive – October 12, 2006 . . . .