Tips and Tricks For Identifying Furniture Marked With Numbers  

The best way to research the numbers is to post a bunch of well lit, sharp, good looking photos of the piece of furniture, starting with the good looking angles and going down into the ugly stuff like the back, sides of drawers, undersides, insides, bottoms of feet, and random marks, including said numbers.
And then you hope that some helpful person recognizes something or everything and tells you what they know.

The only manufacturer that I can help you with is Lane furniture.
On many Lane pieces the number read backward is the date of production. So 263021...would be December 3 1962 ... I'm hoping other responders offer additional help.

Similarly, four-digit numbers are often datecodes: YYWW (YY = year, WW = week).

Would it be like a Mahogany Association Number?
Best,
Aunt Mark

Thank you. I didn't post pictures originally thinking I was asking others to do work that I should be doing for myself. But I've spent an unreasonable amount of time comparing designers, company lines and worst of all comparing the font style used by 10,000 companies as a last ditch effort to narrow down where this stupid table came from. I can identify a custom Platner executive desk and credenza with Litton, Lehigh-Leopold missing but stuck on something that should be so simple. I'm posting the picture (or trying to as I'm techno-stupid) and if someone can identify it, great, but what would be wonderful is if someone can educate me on the numbers for future reference.
The design of the table could be the design of any number of people. I kept coming back to Drexel Precedent but according to the numbers it doesn't appear to be correct. Thank you for your responses and help.

Nothing, huh? Right. Welcome to my world. It's not that this is an important piece of furniture (famous last words!), but I have a very bad habit of declaring war on objects that I can't identify. Especially when the object gives me clues like numbers stamped on it. I become obsessed with an object- need to win the identity war. I'm not ashamed to admit that to members of a forum called Designaddict because I'm confident obsessing isn't exclusive to me.
I appreciate the tips regarding numbers whether backwards or forwards possibly being date codes. Can anyone offer suggestions other than the numbers being possible date codes according to your own experiences of furniture with numbers?
* The top number: if not a date code, is it correct to assume that it's a number code that identifies this particular furniture item?
* The bottom number: "Job No"- what is/might be the significance of stenciling a job number on a piece of furniture. What does it mean?
* Am I giving too much importance to the act of stamping a piece of furniture with two numbers and then the handwriting on the bottom shelf, regardless of financial value?
* Would anyone surmise, even if only at first, that the stenciled numbers are possible evidence that the table belonged to a collection line?
Finally, what is this table called? I've read similar tables referred to as side table, lamp table, plant stand, pedestal table, cigarette table...
Thanks for any help. I promise that the next piece of furniture I bother you with will at least be a cool piece 🙂

In my experience, the model numbers are helpful in confirming the manufacturer of the piece after I have actually identified it (designer etc.) but missing or absence of the usual labels/tags.
I have vintage pieces I own (both low brow and high brow) in the last 20+ years and has remained anonymous to this day. My question to you is does it really matter that much that the item that caught your eye with a purpose in your life has unknown origins?
Living room tables before WW II are taller (like a tea table) and became lower after (in general terms and I am sure there are exemptions).

Thank you, Minimoma. The ability to attribute an object certainly has its purpose but, no, it's not always necessary. My home is full of both attributed and non-attributed objects. I don't always care to identify something- it's enough just to love finding it and having it. But the biggest thing about attribution, for me, is the thought that if I should get hit by a bus tomorrow, my kids should know the collection before donating it to the Salvation Army.
Attribution is also important to me because I love to turn old interesting finds into new things. I can't dismantle a vintage item that's intact before making sure that I'm not harming an object that may be important.
But the bottom line purpose for this thread was simply to get a general education on the use of numbers on furniture not only to help identify this table but a better understanding of these numbers for future use.

Hello, I am a newbie on this site, came across it trying to search for help identifying a chair I have.  The only thing I have on this chair are these #'s:  S18930, that's all I have, no company name at all.  I'm attaching a photo of the chair, it is leather and wood, you can raise and lower the seat, it swivels.  

https://ibb.co/CznLdzD

Pretty good post, Thank you.

great woodworking tips, that marker is pretty smart

1. Hi i am new to this site and i just bought a chair and i just want to ask if someone can help me identifying what is carved on the backrest, for sure the center part is a shield but the top part for me looks like an alien face with some other symbols around. I bought it in a thrift store because i fell in love with it as soon as i saw it, but i don't know how to identify the carvings and how old is. I am attaching some pictures. The chair have like a stencil # underneath but i don't know what they are neither. Thank you for any help. No

Any idea as to what type of desk this is?

Any help would be appreciated. I have a half octagon Buffett I think.. by Stanley Furniture. I grew up with it. I’m wanting to know the tear it was made and the collection it is from. 
hoping someone can help with this. 😄