You posted this same message three times.

Actually each posting has a different photo. I could not get three photos in one posting.
I think the table is too tall and too narrow to be a desk, but that is another idea. Any other ideas?

Another idea, but this may be reaching....

How about a telephone table, with slot for pen/pencils and shelf underneath for telephone book.

Yes, that could be a good possibility, although the slot seems a bit long for pens and pencils, and the slot has no marks from being hit by pens, etc. Any other ideas?

You can post more than one photo in a posting if you use Photobucket HTML codes.

Everyone who checks in here reads all the threads at the top of the list, so you're just reaching the same people over and over again :-)

KarinL

How tall is the table? It looks more like a restaurant reservation/reception table to me.

This is a telephone table...the slot is for the phone book. I've seen them in many historic houses.....maybe 1920's - 1940's.

You might be right cattknap, but the telephone tables I remember from the 40's were very much smaller. Having said that -- my grandpa hated the idea of a telephone invading the privacy of the home, and my grandparents' telephone was on the wall of the "utility" room of the house, which was a step up from the back porch! I remember that phone and loved to climb up to answer it whenever I was allowed to do so; grandpa died in 1948, and the telephone came into the house immediately thereafter in the form of a table top phone and resided on a little table next to an armchair. Grandpa would be reeling today with the thought of carrying around a telephone in our pockets! It still doesn't look like residential telephone table to me, but you've seen them in your area -- not in mine so much.
Annie

I like the idea of a phone table, but the slot is only 4 inches by 1/2 inch. Do you mean a personal phone book?

I think we're confusing slots here. I think some people are referring to the shelf under the table top as the slot for the phone book, while the OP is trying to figure out the purpose of the little slot on the top.

Honestly, I can't really figure out what the purpose of the table might have been - could have been a shoe-shine bench for all I know (OK, not really). People "back then" did so many things that we don't do anymore, so our ability to figure it out is limited.

Regarding photo posting again, when you have your photobucket page open, each photo will have four different tags. You'll see them in table form if you rest your cursor on the photo you want with the album open, or they are to the left if you have clicked on just the one photo to enlarge it. You want to copy the HTML tag, which starts with Once you have copied the HTML tag, paste it into the body of your message here at GW. The photo should show when you hit preview. So if it doesn't work, you will know before you submit your message.

Enjoy the table, whatever it is!

KarinL