Object of the Day: An Antique Tea Trolley

With its graceful cabriole legs and deep walnut sheen, the drop-leaf tea trolly dates to the early Nineteenth Century. The lower shelf would have provided ample room for cake stands and platters of little buttered sandwiches while the upper surface expanded to create a moveable dining table—perfect for tea-time in the drawing room.


Trolleys such as this were staples in English households in the Nineteenth Century. One could say that they were the ancestors of TV trays, but that just doesn’t seem proper. I wish we lived in a world with more tea trolleys.