Mid Century Coffee Table - Generic or no?  

more photos

Whoops. here you go. must not of uploaded them all.

Whoops. here you go. must not of uploaded them all.

not sure why it double posted :/ did that to me earlier.

Also I just noticed under the table something else was attached there at some point.

Perhaps this is a home made piece? And it went through a couple of iterations long ago? It appears to be solid Phillipine Mahogany by the way.

I second the home made vote. That was a thing back in the 60s, DIY modern furniture, because it didn't have all the details of antique-style stuff. It was do-able. Those screw-on legs were really popular and were widely available. I remember my mom getting some when I was a little kid back then, though her creation was a piece of plywood mosaiced with the chips from paint brochures, with legs on it. We thought it was quite stylish.

The cleats on the bottom of yours are to strengthen and stabilize the top, which is just planks glued together....right, leif?

About those cleats: there are no wood expansion slots, which is a homeowner/American mistake, that can lead to problems, but it appears the maker was lucky this time. (I would remove the cleats though, myself, in case luck is about to run out with humidity change in the new environment.) We only saw one end of one cleat. I believe the cleats originally had square legs doweled onto them. The dowel appears to have been too short and too thin, and the joints failed. So then the maker bought the metal leg mounts. I think the round legs might be off the shelf items too. And this all looks to me like it was done long ago.

I am quite certain that, sans cleats, a parade of plumbers could pile their pounds onto this top without collapse.

That sounds like a very reasonable scenario.

I just read what I wrote and it was full of autocorrect gibberish. d**** ipad. The thing is out to make me look like a moron. Perhaps I deserve it though.

An English friend of mine once worked in the Philippines 20 yrs ago. He wanted some nice tropical hardwood for future use before he left, but there were restrictions against him cutting any trees down. So he paid some money to locals, who were authorized, to cut down a tree for him. I believe they handed the wood over as 4" thick planks.

When he was about to leave the Philippines, he discovered that he was unable to legally take lumber with him. But he was able to take furniture. So those huge planks suddenly became "shelves". I think those shelves are still sitting in a barn in Cornwall somewhere.

Your table reminds me of those shelves.

Now that is brutalism!

Thanks so much all for taking the time to respond to my post. Much appreciated.

The top is very very solid like you say leif. Also, checking out the cleats better they are glued on in addition to being screwed on and reading about wood expansion and cleats, gluing is not a great thing. They feel very well glued and I do not think I can get them off without having to shred the cleats.

Also half of one of the old dowels is in one cleat still with a screw in it that I can't seem to get to back out without stripping it.

Fun fun.

Thanks again for the responses.