How many come up for sale each year?

About seventeen knee hole desks are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, drawn from a wide spread of dealers rather than a handful of specialists. Forty-five different dealers have carried one, so no single stock or taste shapes what the category looks like.

What woods were they made from?

Mahogany leads, in about two fifths of titles, followed by walnut at a quarter and oak at one in eight. Together they cover nearly four fifths of the category. The tail is long but thin. Yew, ash, satin birch, satinwood, rosewood, pine, Chinese elm, Cuban mahogany, burr oak and kingwood each appear only once or twice.

Which periods do these desks cover?

The dealers' dated field runs from 1750 to 1930. The earliest sampled piece is a walnut desk dated 1750, and a kingwood-veneered example is labelled late 17th century, older than the stated range. Where a clean year is given, the clusters fall in the 1920s, 1930s, 1910s, 1900s and 1890s. So the late-Victorian to interwar span is the bulk of what dates precisely.

Are all of them office-sized?

No. A sizeable minority are described as small, compact or neat-sized, and the form suited bedrooms and small studies from the start. Against those sit the large and very large desks, including a nine-drawer twin-pedestal example.

Do foreign-made examples turn up?

France is the only foreign origin with real presence, through a run of inlaid marquetry desks all dated to the 1930s. Beyond that there is a single Continental carved walnut desk and a Chinese elm one.

Can a knee hole desk be a dressing table?

Two titles record the same object doing both jobs, offered equally as a desk and as a dressing table. That reflects how the form began, as a compact writing and dressing piece for a bedroom as much as a study.

Search 0

3,348 PAGES BROWSED TODAY PAGES TODAY • 0 ANTIQUES UPLOADED TODAYNEW ARRIVALS

Sorted by

Per page

VISITOR LOGIN JOIN AS A SELLER DEALER LOGIN

0

Saved

GIFTS

Knee Hole Desks

LATEST STOCK

Visitor Login (saved items)

Sort Order

Items Per Page

Antique Knee Hole Desks

34 items · page 3 of 3

← Page 3 of 3 →

A knee hole desk is a flat-topped writing desk with a recessed opening for the sitter's legs between two banks of drawers, made for bedrooms and small studies as much as for offices.

1900 - 1920

Save

Knee Hole Desk

From Carradale Farm Antiques

£1,250

FOR SALE

desks

19th century

Save

A Large Victorian Walnut Knee Hole Desk

From Elmgarden

£1,500

FOR SALE

desks

← 1 2 3 →

65,689

Antiques For Sale

0

Antiques Approved Today

240

Antique Uploads This Month

445,590

Total Antiques Sold

Antique Knee Hole Desks

Knee Hole Desk

A Large Victorian Walnut Knee Hole Desk

Add keywords to the filter

Price

Era

Period

Style

Material

Origin

Stock Location

Recently Added

Online Payments

Categories