The enthusiasm for card playing and the manufacture of specialized furniture specifically for this pastime was evident by the early decades of the eighteenth century in America. The passion for the game accelerated during the Federal era, and the production of card tables escalated at this time in order to accommodate the insatiable public demand. Card playing was enjoyed by people of all means. Besides the appeal of gambling often associated with card playing, this consuming pastime allowed for interaction between young men and women who could compete on equal footing as well as mingle with one another in an appropriate social setting. Gerald W.R. Ward, "Avarice and Conviviality: Card Playing in Federal America," Antiques, vol. 141, no. 5, (May, 1992), pp. 794-807, and in Hewitt, The Work of Many Hands, (Yale, 1982), pp. 15-38.

Card tables, such as these examples, were often made in pairs. Easily portable, they were brought out into the room when it was time to entertain. When not in use, they were placed against the walls in a symmetrical arrangement, either below or between windows.

This pair of tables exhibits embellishments seen on many Federal card tables, particularly in New England, such as a central motif surrounded by line inlay edged in quarter-fan inlay. The presence of the mariner's star on the front panel, as the well as the presence of the chestnut, and, cedar as secondary woods links the pair to Rhode Island. The central star and the inlay on the legs, which is arched at the apex and runs off the end, relates to a table attributed to Rhode Island or eastern Massachusetts illustrated in Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield, (New York, 1976), fig. 284.