Antique Victorian Mahogany Inlaid Kidney Desk C1880 19th C

This is a delightful antique Victorian flame mahogany kidney shaped kneehole desk, Circa 1880 in date.

The free standing desk features satinwood and box woodline inlay and banding. The top is inset with a beautiful gold tooled dark green leather writing surface. The handles, brass castors, and locks are all original and add elegance to this beautiful desk.

This desk features an arrangement of nine solid mahogany lined drawers for convenient storage, and is raised on short square tapering legs that terminate in brass cap castors.

Complete with the original Hobbs & Co brass locks and keys.

This stunning desk is sure to become the centrepiece of your furniture collection and will receive the maximum amount of attention wherever it is placed.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 77 cm x Width 122 cm x Depth 70 cm - Desk

Height 62 cm x Width 42 cm - Kneehole

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 6 inches x Width 4 foot x Depth 2 foot, 4 inches - Desk

Height 2 foot x Width 1 foot, 4 inches - Kneehole

Flame Mahogany

Thomas Sheraton - 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as "best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed." Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called "flame mahogany."

The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.

Alfred Charles Hobbs

(1812 - 1891) born in America, when Alfred was only three years old his farther died leaving the family destitute. Beginning at the age of ten, A. C. Hobbs worked at a variety of jobs ranging from farm help to wood carving, carriage building, tinsmithing, and harness making. While an apprentice at the Sandwich Glass Company, he learned to make doorknobs and became interested in locks. For a while he was a partner in a small firm of Jones & Hobbs, lock makers. About 1840 he became a salesman for the Day & Newell Company - one of America's foremost lock makers. Here he earned a reputation as an expert lock picker. He found that the best way to sell his Companies locks was to pick the locks of his competitors.

In 1851 he was sent to the Great Exhibition in London where he successfully picked the famous Chubb and Bramah locks. ( "Great Lock Controversy" .)

Assisted by his newly won fame and publicity, he founded Hobbs & Co., London, in 1852.

Our reference: A3857