DESKS  Victorian, Edwardian Pedestal
A handsome burr walnut pedestal desk with superstructure including a sloping writing surface, drawers and a turned baluster gallery. A type of desk once rather despised for its superstructure, which was often
removed to convert the piece into a flat-topped pedestal desk of more Georgian appearance. Now, however, the form is coming into its own as a genuine Victorian one with its own usefulness. 1855-1885
A mahogany cylinder bureau with a kneehole. The pedestals each have three drawers and under the sliding tambour there is a writing surface with six small drawers and letter compartments. It is a type illustrated in
several catalogues of the 1870s and 1880s, although the design goes back to earlier George III forms. This is a very plain version. 1870-1890
The Victorian era was a great boom time for the pedestal desk, which was clearly much more popular for a long time than the fall-front or cylinder bureau. Not only for domestic use but also for equipping the thousands of offices which developed throughout the industrial scene, this form was adaptable to several varieties and types of wood. On the whole, oak and mahogany prevailed due to their endurance. Walnut and other woods, apart from pine, tend to be more highly valued for this reason.
The desk was made and reproduced throughout the entire period covered by this book (and still is). Where possible, approximate dates have been shown but some types such as ‘Georgian partners’ or ‘Chippendale’ can be very difficult to date precisely.
A highly decorated Reformed Gothic desk in a style which brings Burges, Seddon, Talbert and Eastlake to mind. Burges and Seddon would go for such lavish decoration; all of them would use the diagonal planking and pillared columns with central collars. It is interesting to compare this version of Gothic with that of ‘Chippendale’ shown in no. 325 in this section. 1860-1870
The designer of this pedestal desk has imbibed more than a little of the spirit of Reformed Gothic  note the panelled sides and slightly ‘revealed’ construction, with shaped feet.
A mahogany pedestal desk of a type made fairly continuously throughout Victoria’s reign and onwards to the present day. There is a tooled leather top, three drawers in the frieze and three drawers in each pedestal.
The moulded edge is a fairly bold type and so is the thumb nail moulding around the base.
A plain mahogany pedestal partners’ desk of large dimensions  three feet by six feet  with drawers in each opposing side, the concept being that the two partners involved could work at the same desk, facing each
other.
1870-1890 but a type made on into the present day
A carved oak pedestal desk with characteristic lion-mask carved handles to the drawers. The late Victorians and Edwardians were fond of carved oak  a taste for the medieval transmitted to them by the work of the
Gothic reformers, who would have hated this piece. 1895-1915
A further version of a carved oak pedestal desk with lion-mask carved handles. The ‘Elizabethan’ effect has been taken a stage further by the inclusion of reeded bulbs on the legs. More carving has been packed on in
foliage form and the top edge is also carved with leaf forms.
A mahogany partners’ pedestal desk on carved serpentine bracket feet in ‘Chippendale’ style. The canted corners are carved with leaf and foliage decoration and the top edge is gadrooned. The top is inset with tooled leather. A straightforward high quality piece which states that it is reproduction from the carved decoration.
A mahogany cylinder bureau or pedestal desk on serpentine feet with a pierced brass gallery rail around the top. The piece is inlaid with marquetry of 18th century inspiration (Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton all
spring to mind) including the splendid central vase in an oval panel on the cylinder front and swags, husks, leaf and floral decoration elsewhere. It has been said of other ‘Edwardian Sheraton’ pieces that the craftsmen
of this period had a tendency to over-egg the pudding and this piece is inclined towards an example of this trait. There is just a bit too much decoration, a tendency to flashiness which distinguishes the piece from its
18th century original. A handsome piece, nevertheless, requiring some first class craftmanship to execute.
1890-1910
A mahogany pedestal desk in the early Georgian manner, with clustered columns on the pedestal corners and Gothic blind fret tracery around the frieze. There are three drawers in the frieze on the viewed side, with
three drawers in each pedestal below. The out-of-view side has three drawers in the frieze and cupboards below  an arrangement normally fitted to a ‘Partners’ desk but in fact allowing the desk to be viewed
favourably from both sides. The quality of workmanship and carving is high  note the carved moulded edge to the top and the plinth around the base. 1920-1940
A walnut ‘Queen Anne’ kneehole desk, made as an accurate reproduction of a period piece. The top is quarter veneered and the drawers have a diagonal banding and lip moulding round the edges. The pierced handles
are a little late in design for the period of the desk, but otherwise the proportions and restraint of the veneers are a good copy. 1920-1930
right) A somewhat 1930s interpretation in the use of matched figures walnut veneers on the drawer fronts but without excessive over-figure or burring (’Queen Anne’ versions of pedestal desks, with feather banding,
etc., etc., were not uncommon in the 1930s). The choice of ring handles, however, if original, is odd.
An inlaid mahogany kidney-shaped pedestal desk or writing table in the Sheraton manner, with boxwood inlaid stringing lines and set on square tapering legs ending in brass castors. The top is inset with tooled leather.
The kidney-shaped desk is a perennial favourite and can often be highly decorative, with burr veneers and marquetry adding enormously to value.
A rather spindly cabriole-legged writing table-cum-pedestal desk, half way between either definition, which shows how, in Edwardian times, there was a movement towards versions of the ‘Queen Anne’ style which
heralded the outburst of burrs and cabrioles of the 1920s. In this case the decoration of the drawers is late 18th/early 19th century Sheraton in origin, whereas the legs are somewhat apologetic cabrioles, i.e. a version of an early 18th century style. The piece is in mahogany, which is not a Queen Anne wood. 1900-1910
A high quality mahogany pedestal desk, on square tapering legs, with inlaid boxwood stringing lines. There is a brass gallery rail about four inches high at the back, which has a diamond-pattern fret. By using the
stringing lines to describe panels on the drawer fronts and facings of the frame, the makers have managed to convey the impression of a restrained, quality piece. c.1900
A mahogany half-pedestal desk of Sheraton style with drawers banded in satinwood. The top is inset with tooled leather.
Figured walnut and cabriole legs  a 1920s pedestal desk of considerable quality, showing the onset of the modified Queen Anne styles which became so popular. This is a slightly more modernised approach
than the slavish copies of the style that were prevalent. 1920-1930

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DESKS: CARLTON HOUSE
About 1785-1915
An Edwardian reproduction of a satinwood Carlton House desk.
Associated by name with the Prince Regent’s London house, and mostly dating from the Regency period, these were first mentioned as such in the 1796 cost books of Gillows of Lancaster, Described in contemporary pattern books as a `lady’s writing-table’. Made throughout the 19thC; very fine ‘Sheraton’ reproductions made by the Edwardians. Still reproduced today.
Carlton House desks are distinguished from other writing-tables by their large size (width usually more than 5 feet/1.5 m) and their low superstructure extending around the curves of their D-shaped top.
Made in two parts, the lower with two or three shallow frieze drawers; sometimes with an additional shallow lower drawer on each side. Generally tapering legs with spade feet (correctly tapering on inner edge only),
extending up to form corners of framing and standing slightly proud of vertical rails. Alternatively, turned legs with occasional ring mouldings (from about 1800) set underneath rectangular top, often with rounded (but no D) corners. Slightly overhanging top with moulded edge; inset leather writing-surface
bordered by cross-banded veneer.
Early superstructures comprised a small central cupboard flanked by tiers of drawers, they in turn flanked by concave-fronted cupboards and concave-lidded compartments with single or dummy drawer below.
Continuous flat top generally bordered by brass occasionally wood  gallery. Later superstructures more varied, often lacking concave-sectioned parts.
Principally satinwood and mahogany, with inlay of box, holly, harewood, kingwood etc. Occasionally rosewood. Sometimes amboyna and other figured woods. Bird’s-eye maple used for some Victorian pieces.
Pine or mahogany for carcases (with oak or mahogany for drawer linings). Pine throughout used for late reproductions.
Standard methods employed. Glued mortiseand-tenon joints with fine, lapped dovetails on drawers (machine-cut in later 19thC). All outer surfaces (except turned legs) veneered.
Stain or varnish, followed by wax polish.
Chiefly figuring of veneer with inlaid stringing lines and neo-classical motifs such as shells, drapery, scrolls etc. Sometimes similar painted decoration (these often Edwardian reproductions).
Handles: Can be simple bails with circular backplates on lower drawers; small brass knobs above. Occasionally lion’s mask ring handles below. Often small ring handles matching on all drawers  with plain or decorative (but basically circular) backplates.
VALUES
Original, early and finely veneered and inlaid examples are immensely valuable. Even good Edwardian reproductions may reach five figures. The least desirable are mid- to late-Victorian rectangular versions
particularly those with a raised centre to the superstructure  but even so, prices can still rise to four figures.

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English Walnut and Mahogany Secretaires

A William and Mary period fall-front secretaire cabinet on chest in walnut. c. 1690. The heavy mouldings in cross grained walnut, convex cushion drawer, and bun feet show the Dutch influence of William’s reign. The piece is veneered in fairly straight grained English walnut without much figure and shows herring-bone inlay around the panel in the fall as well as herring-bone cross banding on the drawers. The handles are of correct period style and may be original. Note that the veneer on the fall front is quartered, like chest tops of the period.
Price Range: $300-$400 Value points: See section notes

The walnut fall front secretaire of the previous photograph shown open. Note the continuation of the drawer front style within, where herring-bone cross banding and simple half-round or ‘D’ mouldings echo the exterior arrangement. All the drawers in the piece are oak lined, even the convex fronted cushion drawer under the top moulding, which is a shallow drawer the full width of the piece. These fall front secretaries, although often finely made and exhibiting all the merits of their period decoratively, are not as popular as normal bureaux due to their size and lack of space under the fall when closed - we are all untidy with our papers and one cannot just drop them into the space under the fall on this piece, for it does not exist:
Price Range: $300-V400

Not a renegade from the chest section but a George I period secretaire tallboy in walnut veneer. The top drawer front of the bottom chest falls forward to reveal secretaire fittings such as pigeonholes and small drawers for use as a writing piece. Otherwise the features are common to those of tallboys of the period i. e. herringbone cross banding, chamfered and reeded sides to the top half and a sunburst in the bottom drawers inlaid in boxwood and ebony.
Price Range: F250-E350
Value points: See section notes

A mahogany secretaire -bookcase of c. 1790 reflecting more of the Sheraton nomenclature in its squarer lines. The latticed glazed doors and simple top moulding reflect a more refined style. The top drawer of the chest section falls to reveal a secretaire. The feet are of the tapering, slightly splayed type with curved apron attributed to Hepplewhite/Sheraton but probably more simply in the then current taste.
Price Range: F400-Z500
Value points: See section notes Satinwood

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Antique English Pedestal Desks

mahogany library or writing table - mahogany pedestal desk - kidney-shaped writing table or desk - burr yew pedestal desk on paw feet - nineteenth century mahogany pedestal desk - kidney-shaped desk of Sheraton design

Pedestal desks for study, library and office use do not really stem from the same origin as the kneehole dressing table. They come from another branch of the furniture tree  those grand library and writing tables of the mid-eighteenth century which the great cabinet makers, including Chippendale, made for wealthy clients. This has some bearing on style, for these grand tables did not have bracket feet, like kneeholes, but had a flat plinth base right around. Antique pedestal desks tend to follow this design, with a solid base, rather than bracket, splay or later forms of turned foot.  As a broad rule ‘the higher the leg the lower the price’.
A fairly grand mahogany library or writing table, with a leather inlaid top, blind-fretted frieze and carved decoration on the angled corners and kneehole section.
A mahogany pedestal desk with leather top and a typical arrangement of cock-beaded drawers. A type illustrated by Hepplewhite.
1770-1800
The kidney-shaped writing table or desk was very popular in the nineteenth century but is originally an eighteenth century form, being illustrated by Sheraton in his design books (and in his early nineteenth century books on paw feet). This is a mahogany example with cross-banded drawers and leather top.
Made in Britain 1800-1820 (early 19th Century)
A burr yew pedestal desk on paw feet in the early nineteenth century manner. Being large and with drawers both sides, it is termed a partners’ desk. There is a possibility that this could be early eighteenth century, with later feet and top, in which case the price would be much greater.
Early 19th century
A nineteenth century mahogany pedestal desk of a type made throughout the century for office use. This has a bit of extra quality in the fluting on the front carcase edges and features a lip moulding to the drawers.
A burr walnut pedestal desk with ring handles which gives the piece an attractive appearance. 1840-1860
A typical nineteenth century standard quality pedestal desk. Made in mahogany, oak and pine throughout the period and understandably popular due to its utilitarian value.
Any small feature of interest adds to its value almost disproportionately.
Late 19th /early 20th century
An almost exhibition desk in the Talbert-Eastlake-SeddonBurges manner. All these mid-nineteenth century designers reverted to ‘medieval’ designs and revealed construction in some degree. This piece is made of oak and is considerably decorated with inlays. No longer underestimated.
A kidney-shaped desk of Sheraton design, made by Edwards and Roberts, a nineteenth century firm who specialised in reproductions of eighteenth century designs. This is a Sheraton design, made in plum-pudding mahogany with inlaid satinwood banding and with stringing.

More examples of antique pedestal desks -

Late 19th Century oak pedestal desk of nine drawers with turned wood handles.

A Victorian stripped pine inverted break-front kneehole desk with brass handles.

Victorian mahogany pedestal desk of nine drawers with turned wood knobs.

Late 19th century oak roll-top desk.

Late 19th century mahogany cilinder top pedestal desk.

A 19th century inlaid desk with brass loop handles and bracket feet.

19th century mahogany kneehole desk with pressed brass handles.

19th century secretaire kneehole desk in mahogany.

A George III mahogany inlaid pedestal writing table with one long drawer in the frieze.

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