***SOLD OUT***
RMS WINDSOR CASTLE
"Bird Table" (Type One)

Items from SS RITA (ex WINDSOR CASTLE, MARGARITA L)

20.75 Inches Tall by 24 Inches Wide
White Melamine Top With Bird Design
Mahogany Trim Around Top
Heavy Brass Base
All Original Vintage Union-Castle Line Materials
Price: $400.00 USD plus shipping
***SOLD OUT***

The table top and a detail of the bird imprint. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.

When I first saw these tables lined up in the former tourist class observation lounge on board the MARGARITA L in 1998, I assumed they had brown wooden bases. It was not until I purchased them via my agent in Alang that I was told their bases were brass. Why on earth did the Greeks or latter day UCL management decide to paint the lovely metal? I have stripped the layers of paint off (blue, green, and finally a brownish mahogany color) to reveal the lustrous brass. I have also repaired and refinished the mahogany trim around the melamine as it suffered over the years from indifference in Greece and just plain abuse in India. The melamine top on this one is in excellent condition, but there is a small spot underneath the bird's tail.

Over any other nations, there must be more ornithologists and bird lovers in Britain and her former colonies, hence the popularity of the bird motif on so many of their wonderful ships. In first class, the WINDSOR CASTLE had its own Murano glass aviary in the aft portion of the observation lounge one deck above the tourist class observation lounge. Portions of it were moved to the lower room during the ship's MARGARITA L career, where their motif could be shared by these tables. Sadly, over time, the little glass birds were pillaged by visitors or bored crew members during her long layup in Greece.

If Union-Castle and/or the WINDSOR CASTLE's famed interior designers, Jean Munro and Michael Inchbald, were doing their homework while outfitting the ship, these particular birds would be species native to the U.K and/or South Africa. Anyway, the tables are exquisite, and this is the first of three patterns I was able to salvage from the misery of Alang.

Facing aft along the starboard portion of the former tourist class lounge on board the SS MARGARITA L (former RMS WINDSOR CASTLE) during the ship's Greek layup. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 1998.

I fell in love with these tables in Greece and am delighted to have been able to have retrieved a couple of them from obscurity, or something worse, since the breaker was keen on getting a premium for their bases from the local brass merchants.