The Disease Deepens ..

[Avocet]

Ok, so today my missions were to pick up some shellac for a Parker 51 I'm sorting out, and off to the stationery store for some paper ... BUT NO, I HAD TO DRIVE BY THE ONLY YARD SALE IN TOWN !

 

So I offer her $20 bucks on this pile of kindling, lug it home and surrender 4 hours of some extremely rare leisure time. I'd been secretly fantasizing about something like this since I was infected with FPinitis this summer, and now I'M hopelessly infected. The first pick is the "before" at about 11 this morning, and the next 3 are from about 30 minutes ago. Not anywhere near perfect, but with just the right amount of rustica via a few brads, some brass polish, some mild soap and warer, some mineral oil, a few rags, a brillo pad - I now have a nice setting for those moments of my malady.

 

 

Im sorry the picture quality is bad, please forgive, time to go do the stalls.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2013 by Avocet

[pajaro]

How very interesting. The most pleasant sort of desk to my way of thinking, and a beautiful serpentine front. A beautiful furniture piece that opens to provide a convenient working surface and you can hide it all away again. My parents had one that I spent many happy hours with. I sincerely hope you enjoy it. The secretary desk I have lacks that lovely serpentine front.

[luminesce]

sweet find! Hope you have many happy hours at it

[Ghost Plane]

Pretty! Wish I found stuff that nice. Love the serpentine front.

[kkshadow]

Ah yes, designing the house around the pens. I know it well. Great piece you have there. Looks like mahogany.

[aenjin]

Niiice. Love how compact and yet sturdy it looks!

[Avocet]

The pictures flatter it significantly ... 1 of the ball & talon feet is missing and some of the veneer is separating and a large chunk missing, but its got some nice age on it, likely very late 19th century and mass produced. Thanks for the notes ...

[bluesky]

You have an eye for seeing the potential in things

Nice job refinishing

Enjoy

Best wishes

bluesky

[Avocet]

Niiice. Love how compact and yet sturdy it looks!

My summer job finds me giving guided tours through historical estates here in coastal Maine. One house has 8 different beautiful writing desks, all solid mahogany and date around 1770. Well outta my budget, but I merely could no longer bear JUST LOOKING at one and desperately need a place to store my pens, inks, tools, etc.

 

Voila! .. A $20 buck solution (instead of a $200,000 one) ... The CEO, who is visiting relatives in 'Canadia', has no idea of this just yet, so we' ll see how much trouble I'm in! (i'm sure she wont mind, but the $91 I spent last night for a 51 Vacumafic might put me on the streets. Pray for me, pen people.)

Edited October 14, 2013 by Avocet

[amk]

Lovely curvy lines. I hope it has a secret drawer too!

[vdiantonio]

Nice. I studied throughout law school on a very similar desk. Enjoy it!

[sadiemagic]

Oh! I believe I recognize this desk, as I have one that I inherited from my mother. Mine is complete too (yours also has two "secret" pillars next to the little compartment with the door. The secret compartments looked like pillars to flank the door but if you hooked your fingernail in the top and pulled, it would come out and had an opening at the top. In there my grandparents kept their immigration papers, of all things.)

 

Mine has the original label on the back. These were mass produced and are quality made reproductions of an older desk. There was a model with a secretary bookcase on top too.

 

I estimate they were made in the 1940's, based upon photographs from my parents' house at the time. But that is just a guess.

 

Enjoy your desk, it's lovely!

Edited October 14, 2013 by sadiemagic

[Avocet]

Oh! I believe I recognize this desk, as I have one that I inherited from my mother. Mine is complete too (yours also has two "secret" pillars next to the little compartment with the door. The secret compartments looked like pillars to flank the door but if you hooked your fingernail in the top and pulled, it would come out and had an opening at the top. In there my grandparents kept their immigration papers, of all things.)

Mine has the original label on the back. These were mass produced and are quality made reproductions of an older desk. There was a model with a secretary bookcase on top too.

I estimate they were made in the 1940's, based upon photographs from my parents' house at the time. But that is just a guess.

Enjoy your desk, it's lovely!

You are spot on re: lil magic pillar slide-outs (see photo). The markings and hardware, to my eye date this reproduction closer to 1885 - 1915 or so ... As we got closer to WWI and the 1929 tumble, we see some changes in the furniture manufacturing, etc. There are no patent stamps or glue-ons that survived with this piece, so oral histories like your can be invaluable and I thank you for paying attention!

 

Dare I ask how much trouble it would be to see a picture or your desk and especially, the label on the back ?!?!

 

In any event, thanks for sharing!

 

What was once old is new again! ... It is often said.

 

Best,

 

Edited October 14, 2013 by Avocet

[sadiemagic]

If my computer permits, I will see if I can post some pictures (my computer is on life support and is slated for replacement in the next few weeks).

 

The paper label on the back says Maddox Tables, Jamestown NY and has an ox image above that with "Mad ox" in small type below that. There is also a metal label that says Maddox Colonial Reproductions, Jamestown, NY.

 

If you google this, you will find some links to these desks; various sources put their manufacture to the 1920's through early 1960's. My parents were married in 1945, and it is in pictures from their first Connecticut house, which is why I think they bought it no earlier than late 1940's and no later than 1953, but sadly they are no longer around to ask.

 

Like you, I store my inks in it, although I don't tend to write on it.

 

I'd say you got a bargain for $20....

[Avocet]

Thanks so much, sadiemagic, for the information! It was very helpful, to say the least.

 

all my best ...

[amk]

Fantastic to see the secret compartments! (Of course, they're not exactly secret any more )

[Nek]

Wow, what a marvellous desk. Great price and fantastic transformation. Looks so good. Enjoy!

[Avocet]

Fantastic to see the secret compartments! (Of course, they're not exactly secret any more )

Well, they are if you don't tell anyone!

Edited October 15, 2013 by Avocet

[warblerick]

Early versions of these desks (from the late 18th century) always had secret hidden compartments or little space tucked in behind drawers for valuables. I have seen ones with small open boxes built onto the back of small long drawers in the cubby space, so in order to find it, you had to pull the drawer all the way out.

 

The column-carved vertical drawers on either side of the main little drawers were known as "document drawers" and in really nice old desks were sort of secret/hidden. The later reproductions made them more stylized and not quite so secret. I have an almost exact duplicate of this desk (Avocets) that a client gave me years ago, and I have refinished it (also years ago) in a mahogany color, though it is only veneered in mahogany and the sides and top are likely poplar. Anyway, it now sits in a guest bedroom holding overflow pen boxes, inks, and various notepads and journals. Some years ago I found a really nice small old-fashioned looking desk blotter that fits it (it is a somewhat small desk, like 3/4 size of a full one). I have a small brass floor lamp (sort of an angled reading lamp) that I bought at a lamp store that sits beside it and it looks really nice. The chair I use is also a freebie from a client who didn't want to spend $180 to have it repaired and gave it to me (a nice Nichols & Stone Windsor).

 

P.S. I restore/refinish furniture for a living.

 

P.P.S. I agree that $20 was a great deal for your desk! Nice job too!

[Avocet]

Early versions of these desks (from the late 18th century) always had secret hidden compartments or little space tucked in behind drawers for valuables. I have seen ones with small open boxes built onto the back of small long drawers in the cubby space, so in order to find it, you had to pull the drawer all the way out.

 

The column-carved vertical drawers on either side of the main little drawers were known as "document drawers" and in really nice old desks were sort of secret/hidden. The later reproductions made them more stylized and not quite so secret. I have an almost exact duplicate of this desk (Avocets) that a client gave me years ago, and I have refinished it (also years ago) in a mahogany color, though it is only veneered in mahogany and the sides and top are likely poplar. Anyway, it now sits in a guest bedroom holding overflow pen boxes, inks, and various notepads and journals. Some years ago I found a really nice small old-fashioned looking desk blotter that fits it (it is a somewhat small desk, like 3/4 size of a full one). I have a small brass floor lamp (sort of an angled reading lamp) that I bought at a lamp store that sits beside it and it looks really nice. The chair I use is also a freebie from a client who didn't want to spend $180 to have it repaired and gave it to me (a nice Nichols & Stone Windsor).

 

P.S. I restore/refinish furniture for a living.

 

P.P.S. I agree that $20 was a great deal for your desk! Nice job too!

Thank you, kind sir!