An ornate, nautical-themed table handmade by a Dunedin woman’s late husband is soon to be taken out of storage and shipped to its new life across the Ditch.
The table was first conceived by the late Peter Manning to fit himself, his wife Margaret and their seven children.
However, her husband got a little carried away, and five years later his hard work had produced an ornate, beautifully detailed, nautically themed artwork no-one was allowed to eat off, Mrs Manning said.
The family had been looking for a buyer since 2024. It had finally sold and would soon head off to Fremantle in Western Australia where the buyers had assured her it would be ‘‘seen by many, many people’’.
‘‘It’s been in the garage for so long ... I mean, who’s going to see it here?
‘‘Peter was so talented - and a table like this was made to be seen.’’
She was happy people would get to see the table at its new home, and she hoped her son living in Perth would get to see it in its new home.
Her husband spent much of his spare time building several yachts (including the 12.2m Sir Lancelot) and rowboats, as well as scale models of sailing ships.
The ornate table has images of eight famous sailing ships made of thousands of pieces of wood set into the tabletop - Margaret, Parmir, Aurora, Great Republic, Charlotte Rhodes, Grace Harwar, Indian Empire and Thermopylae.
It was made using African blackwood, camellia, rosewood, redwood, honeysuckle, mahogany, sycamore and macrocarpa.
Mrs Manning said her husband also made the most magnificent model boats in a bottle, all of which she had dished out to their children without saving one for herself - a decision she only slightly regretted.
‘‘But I just wanted the family to have them.’’
All the children wanted to take the table, but none had enough room to display it.
Mrs Manning said she and the children were ultimately just happy his handiwork would get to be seen by so many more people.
