Many fine pieces of mid-18th Century case furniture, and particularly card-tables have 'H. TIBATS' stamped on their concertina-action hinges, including a card-table in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Tibats was clearly an important source of iron fittings and was probably based in London or Birmingham (P. Thornton, 'A Signed Hinge', Furniture History, Leeds, 1966, pp. 44-45, pl. XXIII). With their richly-fretted legs, this pair of card-tables relates to the pair supplied to George Weller-Poley, Esq. for Boxted Hall, Suffolk and sold by the Trustees of the J.H. Weller-Poley Will Trust, in these Rooms, 3 July 1997, lot 23. The Weller-Poley card-tables had a hinge stamped by Tibats.
Another related pair of card-tables with fret-carved legs was offered from a private collection, Christie's New York, 19 October 2000, lot 161.