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Help me identify this desk please

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    Posted 2 years ago

    trebark1
    (1 item)

    Found this beautiful desk at an antique store and don’t know how or where it was made. Please help if you have any ideas.

    Unsolved Mystery

    Help us close this case. Add your knowledge below.

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    Comments

    1. yougottahavestuff yougottahavestuff, 2 years ago
      I had one similar! It's I believe is called a Schoolmasters desk. Nice piece!!
      Welcome to CW
      Stuff
    2. keramikos, 2 years ago
      Hi, trebark1. :-)

      It was nagging at the back of my brain pan, because I felt like I'd seen something similar here at CW S&T in the last couple of years.

      It turns out to have been an office desk made for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company:

      https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/61979-vintage-desk

      So an antique office desk is another possibility for your desk besides a schoolmaster's desk.

      As to the maker, one possibility is this outfits:

      http://www.furniturecityhistory.org/company/3619/haney-manufacturing-co

      Have you examined the underside/inside of the wooden cabinetry and the cast iron legs for any makers marks?
    3. keramikos, 2 years ago
      Hi again, trebark1. :-)

      I was hoping that the reddit link in the other post with a similar desk might provide some insight into the attachment on top of the desk (it had been just long enough that I couldn't remember the details). The reddit link wasn't accessible the other day, because of a Reddit user protest about fees, but it is again today, and no joy. :-(

      So far, the only two antique, cast iron-legged desks I've seen with that desktop addition are yours and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company one.

      That might just be because I'm not holding my mouth right while performing searches. };-)

      I'm mystified as to the purpose.

      If they could speak, the contemporary designers and users of these desks would likely be bemused by my ignorance: "What, that desk top attachment? Well, of course, it's for..."

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