On Saturday, June 23, 2018 at 2:32:09 PM UTC-4, dpb wrote:
On 6/23/2018 12:30 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
My daughter is looking at buying this table. The seller wants $400.

It is rock solid, no wobble at all. It appears that the top has been replaced.

37" x 74"

The 3 drawers are all in good shape and slide easily.
...

The top is much newer, yes.

It's worth whatever your daughter thinks it's worth....

If she wants it badly enough to spend (or daddy is willing to indulge
) $400, then it's worth $400. That would be quite good for the seller;
if were to go to auction it probably wouldn't much top $100 I'd guess.

....and if the seller was giving it away it would be free, but neither
buying it at an auction or getting it via a give-away is an option, so
neither $100 or $0 don't really enter into the decision process. ;-)



The rest is also pine; question would be whether the intent is to leave
it painted or try to restore to something approximating the original;

Most likely not. The table is actually her roommate's, who is moving out
of the apartment and doesn't really have room for it where she will be
for the next 2 years. That gives my daughter some negotiating power, although
it's not a given that the seller won't get someone else to buy. The advantage
for my daughter is that is already in *her* dining room and doesn't have
to be moved. She likes it just the way (and where) it is. She's into rustic,
as you can tell by the bed that she asked me to build for her. She sent me
this picture...

https://i.imgur.com/lVY9OQQ.jpg

....and ended up with this:

https://i.imgur.com/80jaux9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GTDm9VG.jpg



fastening a top down thru the top solidly into the rails is
_a_bad_idea_(tm), fortunately either by design or accident the
instigator of that event did leave some gap for movement in the middle
so it hasn't buckled.

If you were to ever fix that, the thing to do is, as you already know,
reinstall the blocks or slot the inner rail for the metal holddown rings.

The leg pockets look sound; it should last indefinitely from that
standpoint...

I agree with that.