Mail Sorting Table History and Refurbish

Have you ever crossed paths with a piece of antique furniture or vintage treasure that you have no intention of buying but you can not get out of your head…or your heart? That is what happened with this mail sorting table.

I was looking for a french style dining table for our barn studio and spent a few days exploring my favorite “treasure hunting” shops in Vancouver and Portland.

I spotted this mail sorting table at a local resale store called Divine Consign. They have an antique/vintage section in their basement with many interesting pieces and it is a fun place to browse. The mail table caught my eye but it was too big, too heavy, would not fit up our stairs, had a crack in the table top, and was not what I was looking for….but….I could not stop thinking about it…

Several weeks later I went back to the store, asked a few more questions, and discovered that it was possible to remove the top section from the legs…that was good news….but….there was still the issue of that awful linoleum table covering with the big crack.

The crack was trying to hide under the lamp….

I could see the fabric backing of the linoleum through the crack and I was not sure what was under the fabric. So…the mail sorting table stayed at the store. During the next week I searched more shops for a french table with no luck. The mail table was still on my mind…it was unique, had lots of character, and would fit nicely in the studio if we could get it up the stairs. So…I decided to purchase it…with lots of questions unresolved.

The table was in two sections when we picked it up at the store.

Once it was in the wood shop, we were able to seperate it even more by taking the tabletop off the legs. That made each section lighter weight and more manageable.

The linoleum peeled away easily (Yea!) from the table and we discovered the original table was wood and in really good condition! It just had a layer of glue left behind from the linoleum.

We scraped and sanded the glue until the wood was revealed and then sealed it with tung oil.

There was a slight gap between the wood table top and the metal frame so we cut a thin piece of wood to slide into that space.

We carried the heavy table top and the legs to the barn and attached them together with the original hardware.

The tabletop cleaned up very nicely showing its original patina.

Next we carried the VERY heavy mail bin section up the stairs and attached it to the table top. Luck was definitely with us…had it been 1 inch longer it would not have fit in the stairwell. Wheew!

The back is beautiful (an unexpected surprise) and will make a great backdrop for photography too!

Curiosity is my “word” for 2020 and I was curious about the table’s history.

The store gave me the sellers contact information and we had a lovely chat about the piece. I learned that it was from the Washougal Post office (home of the Pendleton Wool Blanket Mill) and had most recently lived in the Washougal history museum. But because the table was big and very heavy the museum could not store it anymore and had to sell it.

The table top is great for small flat lay photography….

…and I love that it still has the names of states and cities written on the cubbies.

It appears that three people could sort mail at one time because the bins are divided into three sections each repeating the same states and cities. You can see the dividing lines designated by red vertical lines.

Sometimes you have to gamble on a vintage piece…especially if your head and heart can not let it go!