1970s Swabian Oil Shale & Chrome Coffee Table | 10" Ammonite Fossil | Original West German Provenance

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Description

Some things exist at the intersection of natural history and beautiful design. This table is exactly that.

This is a … Read more Some things exist at the intersection of natural history and beautiful design. This table is exactly that.

This is a 17"H x 35.5"W x 35.5"D coffee table from the Collection Ardesia line, produced in West Germany in the early-to-mid 1970s. Original manufacturer documentation survives on the sister table, tracing the order through Schneider + Fichtel - Stuttgart's exclusive Ardesia distributor - and first sold by Einrichtungshaus Koerber, Bremen. Given their identical construction and dimensions, both tables are almost certainly from the same original order.

The top is a single slab of one-inch thick natural oil slate, coarse, dark, and deeply textured, with an intact ammonite fossil of approximately 10 inches across embedded directly in the surface, now the centrepiece of one of the most striking coffee tables you will ever own. Look closer and the entire surface reveals itself with countless smaller fossil fragments scattered throughout the stone, catching the light and glittering across every inch of the slab. The base is quarter-inch chrome-plated steel - bold, architectural, and quintessentially 1970s European Brutalist design at its most confident. No quarry will produce this again.

The slate top lifts off the base for transport, making collection more manageable, though it is substantial in weight as you'd expect from a solid inch of natural stone.

Condition: As you would expect from a piece of this age, there is one small chip to a corner of the slate top. Given the naturally coarse and textured character of the stone, it is minimal, consistent with a table this age.

Serious enquiries only. Collection preferred, please come prepared for a heavy lift. See less