Posted 5 years ago
WillysVA
(3 items)
Update: Thanks for looking and helping. We bought this desk around 2007 or 8 and I did refinish it, but I love it because its old, solid and all made of wood. Another posted a photo of the exact same desk and said it had tags showing his was built in 1942, and another identified it as made by the Imperial Desk Co., that was in Evansville, Ind. This company opened in 1912 and closed in 1971. I think it is made of walnut, but according to one of their catalogs, mahogany was also available as a special order. Thanks for looking.
There were thousands of these made back in the 50's and used in schools, offices, government buildings etc. The larger ones the top comes off to accommodate getting it through doorways and lighten the load. I would sooner think this one is either maple or birch. As for the maker, if it isn't marked you may be out of luck there because these were made all over the country. I would question this having been made during the war years when the government had most of the contracts for wood.
Thanks fhrjr2. The desk could be from the 50s but I suspect older. Its definitely not maple or birch. I believe the top and draw fronts are mahogany by matching against samples shown on line, and suspect the remainder of the drawers (insides) are beechwood, which is a less expensive wood often used for that purpose. I do believe these were made in large quantities.
The desk does look like the ones they used in the offices with 2 minor/major differences. The feet never were on those used in the office, and I should know working in gov't offices since the seventies when there was still a lot of furniture from the forties and fifties. Also the handles are not the same either.
You are right Phil the standard Gov't or school desk sat flat on the floor at the bottom of the pedestals and usually had horizontal wooden drawer pulls. A desk like this would have been used for a top exec. or perhaps in an attorney's office etc.
I have a very similar executive desk with no makers mark but manufacturers date on a few drawers and back of the panel that say Aug 1930.
Thanks Dambii. I believe these types of desks were made during the first half of the 1900s. So 1930 is very possible. I didn't find any date on my drawers or any where else.
I have a very similar desk - 8 round legs, same brass-like tiny knobs on the desk extensions, similar wood, etc. There are a couple differences, though...I have a beveled edge around the drawer fronts, the bottom of the center drawer is slightly arched, and the legs have a slightly different profile at the top. But, otherwise, it is VERY similar. My desk has an Indiana Desk Company Inc brand in the inside of the center drawer. But, I can't find any other markings (dates, papers, etc) anywhere else. In searching for Indiana Desk Company Inc. I kept coming across Jasper Desk Company, but it seems that even though Indiana Desk Company Inc is in Jasper, Indiana, the two companies are not connected in any way that I can find even though they are only 3 miles apart. I hope that helps a little bit.
Hi WillysVA, I have the same desk. I purchased it a year ago off Craigslist and completely restored it. It is a Jackson/Jasper I believe. Now I have a question for you! How did you install file folders? Mine is too narrow for hanging folders.. Thanks!
belairranch you turn the file hanger rack so the folders sit the opposite of how they sit today. Any pendaflex file rack will do. Back then the folders didn't face front to rear, they faced you as you were sitting in the chair when you opened the drawer.
Thanks!!!!
The desk has been identified as one from Imperial Desk Co., Evansville, Ind. From a catalog, "The exterior wood is walnut. The panels are 3 ply walnut, the top is 1 1/4 inch thick 5 ply walnut with solid walnut rims that are moulded and all corners are rounded. The posts are 1 3/4 inch square with turnings at the bottom. Drawer fronts are solid walnut. Drawers have oak sides with 3 ply oak bottoms framed in; full dovetailed construction. Drawers equipped with movable partions, which can be adjusted. Desk has dust proof bottoms."