What wood are inlaid desks usually made from?

Mahogany accounts for very nearly half the titles on Sellingantiques. Walnut, rosewood and satinwood follow, and between them come to about the same number again. Rarer veneers and carcase woods appear in single listings: amboyna, thuya, kingwood, partridgewood, maple and pitch pine. Ivory, mother-of-pearl, brass and bronze all show up as inlay materials in one title each.

Are inlaid desks Georgian?

Only a handful are. Georgian appears in about fifteen listings, against well over a hundred each for Edwardian and Victorian, and the 1900s are the busiest decade in the dated field. The category is best read as late 19th and early 20th century writing furniture that revives late 18th century taste, with Sheraton Revival named in a couple of dozen titles.

What is a davenport desk?

A small desk with a sloping writing lid over a bank of drawers set into one side. Around ninety appear in this category, an eighth of the whole. Burr walnut is the recurring timber, and several titles pair a davenport with four drawers or with a pop-up or piano top. They sit in the lower band of the range.

How common are inlaid desks on Sellingantiques?

About sixty-seven come up in a year, and 146 different dealers have handled one. That spread matters. This is a form carried thinly across a very large part of the trade rather than the speciality of a few dealers.

Why do some listings only say 19th century?

Sixty-five listings are dated that way with no closer year, so roughly one in ten pieces is placed within a century rather than a decade. Period words do similar work. "Victorian" and "Edwardian" stand in as dates in many titles, and a few listings pair a period word with a year that does not quite match it.

Which forms sit at the top of the range?

Carlton House desks, partners desks and kidney-shaped tops cluster in the upper listings, frequently in satinwood. The Carlton House form is spelled five ways across these titles, and one listing offered a pair of them together, which almost never happens.

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Antique Inlaid Desks

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A writing desk or table decorated with banding, stringing or marquetry set flush into the surface rather than carved, made for letters and paperwork at home.