Perfect for clandestine correspondence! The shallow drawer is for sheets of paper and blotting paper, the pull out arms support the fold down section. The teeny little shelves are for bottles of ink, boxes of nibs, stamps etc. The lower cupboard is for larger items. I recommend putting a plaster bust of some ancient sage of your choice on the top, with a doily underneath it.
Give it an occasional rub with beeswax polish and it’ll last another 100 years easy. From the design, I’d say mid to late Victorian but not particularly high-end, which would be much more decorated with carving etc. I can’t tell from the pic what wood it is. If it was made here in Australia, then it just might be ‘local’ cedar from Richmond in northern NSW, now unobtainable for furniture making, and very collectible. The supply of Richmond cedar ran out in the early 1900s, due to overharvesting. Up to then, it was considered very very desirable for furniture as it was mothproof and rotproof and easy to work with. The smell should give it away if that is the case.
Perfect for clandestine correspondence! The shallow drawer is for sheets of paper and blotting paper, the pull out arms support the fold down section. The teeny little shelves are for bottles of ink, boxes of nibs, stamps etc. The lower cupboard is for larger items. I recommend putting a plaster bust of some ancient sage of your choice on the top, with a doily underneath it.
Give it an occasional rub with beeswax polish and it’ll last another 100 years easy. From the design, I’d say mid to late Victorian but not particularly high-end, which would be much more decorated with carving etc. I can’t tell from the pic what wood it is. If it was made here in Australia, then it just might be ‘local’ cedar from Richmond in northern NSW, now unobtainable for furniture making, and very collectible. The supply of Richmond cedar ran out in the early 1900s, due to overharvesting. Up to then, it was considered very very desirable for furniture as it was mothproof and rotproof and easy to work with. The smell should give it away if that is the case.
I think it IS cedar. There’s a distinctive scent
Hang onto this family heirloom like grim death. It may fund your retirement.
Might not be that valuable. Dad scratched the SHIT out of the writing surface as a boy - it’s got big gouges in it where he got bored and destructive.
Even if it is, I’d never sell it. There were only two things I would have wanted from my grandmother’s house, and this desk is one of them.
Scratches and all it is truly beautiful and to be cherished.