Antique Walnut Desks between £0 and £0
Writing furniture in walnut, from small drawing-room davenports and ladies' desks to full pedestal desks with a leather-inset top over banks of drawers.
What You're Looking At
Two English Victorian forms dominate. The davenport is a compact desk with a sloping or lifting writing top over a chest of side drawers, and it accounts for 379 of the 1,642 listings on Sellingantiques. The pedestal or kneehole desk, a flat writing top carried on one or two banks of drawers, is the other, and together the pedestal and kneehole titles make the largest group of all.
Burr walnut appears in 646 titles and the word Victorian in 643, with 236 using both. So the piece you are most likely to meet is a mid-to-late Victorian desk veneered in burr walnut, either a davenport or a pedestal desk. Leather or tooled leather writing surfaces are named in a smaller share of titles.
Walnut was the main English cabinet timber before mahogany took over, and the kneehole desk began in the early 18th century as a small writing chest. Early Georgian kneeholes are present in the archive but scarce in the counts, and they sit at the top of the range.
The dated field runs from 1690 to 1940, and the listings fall into two humps. The first is the 1860s to 1890s; the second is the 1900s, 1920s and 1930s, which carries the Queen Anne and Georgian revival pieces and the 85 Art Deco titles. Edwardian examples bridge the two.
What Separates Them
Timber selection does most of the work. Burr walnut, cut from a knotty growth and heavily figured, sits at the top, with figured walnut behind it in 74 titles. At the lower end, titles pair walnut with pine, oak or mahogany carcase timbers, and the bottom of the range is held by plain inlaid Victorian davenports.
Outline matters nearly as much. Kidney-shaped tops appear in only 44 titles and serpentine fronts in 32, yet those shaped forms are the ones that show up among the highest-priced writing desks. Rectangular is the default, and it prices as the default.
With davenports, the mechanism is the variable. Pop-up superstructures, piano tops and harlequin actions push well above the plain sloping-top version. Beyond that, two things hold the top of the range: early Georgian kneehole desks, and desks carrying a Gillows attribution.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for walnut desks between £0 and £0, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Victorian is the period label used most on Sellingantiques for walnut desks, with the 1920s next and 19th Century third.
Gillows·Maple & Co·Edwards & Roberts
The Antique Walnut Desks between £0 and £0 Glossary
- Davenport
- Compact desk with a sloping writing top over a chest of side drawers. A standard drawing-room article in the 19th century, and one of the two commonest forms in the category.
- Burr walnut
- Veneer cut from a knotty growth on the tree, giving dense swirling figure. The single most common descriptive word in the titles.
- Pedestal desk
- Writing top carried on one or two banks of drawers. Twin pedestal means two banks, specified in around forty titles.
- Kneehole
- The recessed central opening between drawer banks, for the sitter's legs. Written both kneehole and knee hole in listings.
- Partners desk
- Double-sided pedestal desk, worked at from both sides. Appears in 72 titles.
- Bonheur du jour
- Small lady's writing desk with a raised cabinet or shelf back. Turns up repeatedly alongside writing tables and kidney-shaped desks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a davenport desk?
A small desk with a sloping or lifting writing top set over a chest of drawers in the side. It became a standard drawing-room piece in the 19th century.
Davenports make up 379 of the listings on Sellingantiques, and about a third of current stock. The plain sloping-top version is the common one.
Why is burr walnut mentioned so often?
Burr walnut is veneer cut from a knotty growth on the tree, and it gives the dense swirling figure Victorian cabinetmakers wanted for desk tops and drawer fronts.
It is named in 646 titles, almost exactly as often as the word Victorian. Figured walnut, meaning pronounced grain short of burr, appears in another 74.
How old are most walnut desks for sale?
The dated field runs from 1690 to 1940. Victorian is the largest single label, and the decade counts peak in the 1860s, 1880s and 1870s.
There is a second peak in the 1900s, 1920s and 1930s, covering the Queen Anne and Georgian revival desks and the Art Deco ones. Eighteenth-century pieces exist in the archive but are few.
Which walnut desks sit at the top of the range?
Two things, mainly. Early Georgian kneehole desks, including George I and George II examples, and desks carrying a Gillows attribution.
Shape also lifts a desk. Kidney-shaped and serpentine tops are uncommon in the counts but appear among the highest-priced writing desks.
What is a piano-top davenport?
A davenport with a hinged lifting top rather than a fixed slope. Piano appears in 32 titles and piano top in 26.
Related variants include pop-up davenports, where a superstructure rises, named in 49 titles, plus harlequin and metamorphic examples.
Are Art Deco walnut desks part of this category?
Yes. Art Deco appears in 85 titles, and sits within the broader 1920s and 1930s group.
Those two decades account for 171 and 115 listings respectively, so interwar walnut is a sizeable strand alongside the Victorian core.