Peter J. Martin and Son Antiques

Description

A handsome and fine quality late Victorian pedestal desk in beautiful golden oak. The top has an inset leather scriber with gilt tooling, a thumbnail mould to the edge, and is raised on two pedestals with plinth bases. The desk features an arrangement of nine graduating mahogany lined drawers with fine hand-cut dovetail joints and of particularly good interior depth (20”, 51cm). The drawer fronts feature bevel edges and original pierced back-plate brass handles. The top lifts off the pedestals for ease of transport.
Bears stamp to centre drawer of the esteemed maker ‘Maple & Co.’.

Width 48″ (122cm) Depth 27″ (69cm) Height 30″ (76cm)
Kneehole Dimensions Width 19 ½” (49cm) Height 24” (61cm)

About Maple & Co.
Maple & Co. were the pre-eminent furniture manufacturers and retailers of the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Their Tottenham Court Road premises in London was the largest furnishing store on the planet, manufacturing their own luxury furniture in a complex eventually so vast that by the 1880s it occupied an area where once stood 200 houses. They were timber importers, and exporters of furniture and fittings to all parts of the world.
Maples' market was the middle class and upwards. They furnished palaces all over the world, including Tsar Nicholas's Winter Palace, the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, all the great hotels, and town and country homes. Prestigious British embassies were all furnished by Maples… even if it meant carrying the grand piano up the Khyber Pass on packhorses!

Condition and Details of Restoration
This item is in original structural condition and is completely sound. The polish has been cleaned and revived, by our own craftsmen, by hand in the traditional manner. The inset leather scriber is a replacement, and has been ‘distressed’, i.e. marks have been deliberately added to give the appearance of age. There are some minor old marks underneath the polish, but overall this desk is in excellent condition for its age.