How do you clean the leather top?

A damp cloth lifts surface dust safely. Avoid soaking the hide or using modern chemical sprays, as they break down the old surface. Feed dry areas sparingly with a dedicated leather balsam. Wipe off any excess immediately to stop it turning sticky.

We found a small wooden slope with a hinged lid at an estate sale, would this have been used on a regular table?

Those are portable writing boxes, often termed lap desks. Travellers carried them on trains and ships to draft letters away from home. You rest them on a dining table or your knees. Opening the box forms a sloped writing surface, usually with small glass inkwells held near the hinge. Clerks used larger versions in commercial offices.

Why are some drawer knobs made of wood?

Turned wooden handles suited the heavier aesthetic of early-to-mid century furniture. Mahogany or rosewood knobs blend quietly into the drawer fronts. Cabinet makers turned them on lathes, often fitting a wooden screw thread to secure them. They rarely tarnish like brass, though they can split if pulled carelessly from a bad angle.

My floor is slightly uneven and the large bank of drawers on the left side rubs when I try to open it, how is this fixed?

Heavy carcases twist slightly on uneven floors, pinching the drawers tight. Slide thin wooden shims under the plinth corners. Levelling the base squares the frame and solves the binding.

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Victorian Victorian Desks

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A broad, flat workspace typically fitted with drawers or a gallery, built during the nineteenth century to handle the heavy correspondence of a growing middle class.