Antique Billiard / Billiard Or Snooker Table Magnificent Exhibition Quality

A beautiful exhibition quality English pool or snooker table by Orme and Sons of Manchester and London. Without a doubt the best pool table - snooker available on the open market today. Constructed of solid oak with decorative panels depicting various faces and masks, each panel is individually designed. The cushions feature magnificent medullar rays of quarter-sawn oak, while the edges of the cushions are intricately carved with flowing acanthus leaves, above a frieze of stepped, chamfered dentils. At one end, the maker's name "Orme" has been carved in oak into the actual body of the cushion panel. The tablet reads "Orme & Sons makers to HRH The Price of Wales, London Manchester Glasgow" Fitted with handmade English cotton nets and leathers. Orme & Sons, founded in Manchester in 1845, had become highly respected billiard table manufacturers by the 1860s, a feat achieved by very few provincial firms. They quickly expanded to other premises in Manchester, Glasgow (1880) and London (1890). In 1880 they gained the distinction of royal patronage and from that date the three feathers of the Prince of Wales featured prominently in their advertising. It is therefore not surprising that they were selected to undertake the truly magnificent commission for The Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee billiard table in 1887.