Can you help identify this old desk?

Hi all,

I'm trying to sell this old desk but have no idea what it is called. I was told it is an antique teacher's desk, the short legs made to rest onto a pedestal. I have been unable to find anything like it online to gauge the value.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

The ‘furniture people’ will be along to help you (they may ask for more photos) Looks old, unique and interesting (maybe a marriage of sorts) I have never seen another one like it (But I don’t know much) Are the legs a different wood looks like table legs.Draw pulls looks shiny new and ‘out of place’.. Anyway I will be watching this post (and learning)

 

Also:Welcome to forum..

 

I'm with Boland & will watch for info from others. Very curious piece. Can't be a desk tho 'cause you have no place to put your knees.

Are you in the UK?

Next time please click on 'show all images full size', we aren't fond of clicking on thumbnails all the time.

 

I have enlarged the Photos for you.

Inkwell contiunued to be used in School until the 1950's and 1960's. However the manufacture of desks with Inkwells woudl have stopped in the early 20th century and the ball point pen invented in 1880 by Loud ( he invented the rolling ball point) did not become manufactured until 1930 by Biro, however this pen still needed to be filled with fountain pen ink and which did not dry was almost as messy as a fountain pen. To make the ball point pen work they needed a new ink that had a different viscosity and would dry faster than fountain pen ink.

It was not in fact until 1943 that we saw the pen catapult faster than a bullet into production. The RAF purchases 30,000 ball points in the first week that the company started production, this balpoint and fast drying ink was what they desperatley needed in a pen that could be used at high altitudes in the cockpit that would not be effected by high pressure.

Here is an incerpt.
László received a patent for his new pen in Britain in 1938, but World War Two put paid to plans to market his new invention. As László and his brother were Jews, they decided to flee Europe in 1941, and emigrated to Argentina. There, László returned to his new invention, helped by a fellow escapee, Juan Jorge Meyne.

The first “birome”, as it became known in Argentina, was released in 1943, while war was still raging in Europe and the Pacific. The design piqued the interest of the Royal Air Force (RAF), who put in an order for 30,000: the pens were able to be used by aircrew at high altitude unlike fountain pens, which tended to leak because of the pressure changes. Otherwise, the original pen was little-known outside its South American home – the few original models current all for sale on online auctions all hail from Argentina.

Gimbels had ordered 50,000 of the new pens and had sold 30,000 of them by the end of the first week

In 1945, two US companies – the Eversharp Co and Eberhard Faber Co – teamed up to licence the new pen for the US market, having spent half a million dollars ($7.2m or £5.6m in today’s money) to sew up the rights to North and Central America. But they were too slow on the draw. American businessman Milton Reynolds was visiting Buenos Aires and was impressed with the new pen – he bought several, and on return to America set up the Reynolds International Pen Company to market a new design.

Pre 1940's Desk.

These would not have been made after the war, i am guessing with the ball point pen now commonplace.

I am guessing the desk is early 20th century.




FIG2
DIG"
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FIG 3

 

I wonder if it's a davenport that someone shortened the legs to make it fit the space.

 

I also thought it looked like a Davenport, but it looks like it was custom made for a specific place.

Edit:
It also looks like the side door was added later.

 

It is a school desk married or sitting on top of a cabinet. The front legs have been removed.

 

Depends on where you are. If I am correct, the one below is 1950s Dutch manufacture:


https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/451697037600333547/


This one was for sale in Belgium, two children would share one inkwell:

 

What the Dickens?! People do the oddest things to their furniture!

 

Looks like the person was trying to put the chair together with the eyes closed..

 

Nah, it's chair yoga. Keeps them in shape.

 

Ha ha.. that’s very clever..

 

Maybe they are dylsexic.

 

Very odd, and interesting. I'd go along with the thought that it has been put together from separate items, at least partly. What does that door handle on the side do? See last picture, the small brass pull that is next to the top of the big door. Is there also a door on that side?

 

Am I the only one that grew up in the 50-60s and only knew the word davenport was a sofa/couch? Have never heard of a davenport desk before. Even an old dog can learn something new.

 

Only the ‘side view’ of this interesting creation reminds me of a davenport desk and nothing else. I have never heard of a davenport sofa/couch before.. (good to know)

 

My mother was ALWAYS wanting to buy a new davenport. Maybe it was just an American thing?

 

Looked up my own answer.

Davenport was the name of a series of sofas made by the Massachusetts furniture manufacturer A. H. Davenport and Company, now defunct. Due to the popularity of the furniture at the time, the name davenport became a genericized trademark in parts of the United States.Wikipedia

 

Regional.

Debora