Help required to identify the origin of this RAF table

Hi Andy and Bill,
Thanks for your replies.
I agree, it makes sense that it is a privately purchased piece of furniture rather than a standard issue which would have been a lot plainer in design.
Now that I look at the fret work on the base of the table I can see that it probably originates from the East.
I shall try and get it repaired, it is a nice piece of furniture and Mrs B has already agreed to alllow it to be used at home.
Gerry

Welcome Gerry,
Ah !! Yes Andy, knew there was something about that table and now you mention the indian (Or far East )connection, this brings to mind( looking at the “open “weave” lower fence or wall around this design) of idea’s I saw in a lot of these size of artifacts on a transit through Singapore in 1962. Although these were churned out by local craftsmen they were and still are nice bits of kit. You could of course talk with the man making you a personal table and get it fitted with your idea’s. So my money is with you on this being a personalised item from that area and pre-52 era. Very nostalgic bit of kit from those days in RAF.

I know that these Far East /Indian Craftsmen were still making this stuff into 1980’s and exporting it, as I saw lots in upper market shopping malls up in Muscat, Oman at that time. These would be 1980’s build, but,—-still nice stuff !! (Unpersonalized ).

Bill T.

For what it might be worth, I’d suggest it is more likely to have been made for an RAF officer as a personal piece rather than an ‘official’ piece of mess furniture.

Quite a lot of this sort of stuff was churned out in the Middle and Far East, Benares trays and the like, and this is a fairly typical Indian octagonal coffee table with inlaid brass-work.

As an aside, and for aviation-related reasons, I became more familiar with Indian furniture than I might otherwise have liked back in about 2000 – not that, in any way, I profess to be anything of a specialist! But I’m certain this is just a decorative piece than necessarily intended for Mess use.

Gents
Thanks for your advice re the compass points.
I hadn’t noticed that before.
Yes, definately a Kings Crown on the wings so pre 1952.
Thank you both.
Gerry

Hi Gerry,
What a nice table. I don’t remember ever seeing anything like this in my time in ze mob, but agree with Brians observation about the points of the compass. The Crown in the inlaid pilots wings looks like the Kings Crown which would make it pre-1952 (When King George the 6th died )

Bill T.

Gerry,

I’m unable to help with the table’s provenance, but the inlay at the bottom of the first photo (and repeated along the other segments) appears to represent the cardinal points of the compass. If I’m correct might it possibly come from a Flying School establishment? Could the style of the ‘wings’ inlay provide an indication of the era during which it was made?

Brian