Lot 2: AN EARLY VICTORIAN 'WEMYSS PARROT COAL' CENTRE TABLE

By Thomas Williamson The oval moulded top on a hexagonal spreading shaft, on a concave-sided shaped rectangular base with scroll feet, the underside with incised inscription 'WEMYSS PARROt COAL 1846 Ts WILL IAMSON MAKER' 291/2 in. (75 cm.) high; 41 in. (104 cm.) wide; 29 in. (74 cm.) deep PROVENANCE Possibly acquired by Colonel Muir, Chairman of Thomas Muir Son & Paton Ltd., Dundee. Bought by the present owner from the sale of the assets of Thomas Muir Son & Paton Ltd. in the early 1970s. NOTES The inscription on the underside of the top of this table indicates that the table is made from 'Parrot' coal, another name for cannel coal, a corruption of candle coal, which refers to the chattering noise it makes as it burns. A similar, much larger table that was in the Scottish Divisional Coal Board offices, Edinburgh, is similarly inscribed 'WEMYSS PARROT COAL' and dated 1855 and made by Williams, presumably a shortening of the surname Williamson, as on the present table. The coal used in the manufacture for this and the latter table was excavated from the West Wemyss Colliery in Fife (G. Mell, 'Coal Black Magic', Country Life, 14 November 1974, p. 1407, fig. 1). According to a letter written by the present owner of the table, This coal table formed part of the furnishings of the head office of Thomas Muir Son & Paton Ltd. Dundee. On the occasion of the successful takeover by a rival firm, much of the furnishings and property were sold. The present owner, who from the 1950s worked for the latter firm, bought this table at the dispersal sale.