Featured Mystery Inscription on Edwardian Desk Drawer

Wow. Wouldn't have thought that possible.

 

Neither did I but as it was so incredibly bad I didn't think I could really make it worse! It was so bad that I thought it might involve replacing the bottom of the drawer or lining the drawer with a liner to hide it. I think with a bit more work I could get absolutely all of it off but it took a long time and I had had enough.

The joke is, I do write with a fountain pen and now that I have spent ages cleaning the ink off the drawer I have just put about 10 bottles of fountain pen ink back in it........

 

So I thought I would play a little game in the style of Sherlock Holmes. I bought this desk from an antique dealer so I have no idea about the previous owner or owners. One owner is almost impossible but assuming one person owned the desk for most of its life........

1) It was owned by a gentlemen of some means.

This is easy. It would have been an expensive desk and it is obviously a gentleman's desk

2) The gentleman wrote in fountain pen.

Again easy, lake of fountain pen ink in a drawer

3) He was left-handed.

Ink-stains in top-left drawer. Pens were keep there.

4) He cared about the desk but was not very organised

He used to pull out the top-left drawer and put his glass there rather than mark the top of the desk but why didn't he use a coaster? Ring marks in top left-drawer from a small glass.

5) He drank

As above. Drank spirits. A colourless spirit, probably gin. A navy officer?

6) He smoked cigars

Bottom right drawer still smells of cigars and cigar boxes. Expensive cigars, Hanvannas.

7) He drank too much

Burn marks in various places

8) He was inpatient

Lots of evidence that he would pull out drawers a long way and shove them back in without lifting the weight of the drawer. Extensive and unusual wear to drawer runners.

Anyway, a bit of fun......