Art Deco Desks between £0 and £0
A freestanding writing or office desk in the Art Deco taste, made between the wars as veneered case furniture for the home study and the modern office.
What They Are
The desks in this category are overwhelmingly British and dated by dealers to the 1920s and 1930s. Of 182 listings, 142 sit in the 1930s and 30 in the 1920s, so the category is inter-war almost throughout. Many of those dates are approximations written into the titles as "c1930" or "1930's", so read them as inter-war rather than as a precise year.
The version you're most likely to meet is a walnut-veneered pedestal desk of 1930s date. Walnut in some form names 75 of the titles, pedestal 37. Where the veneer is qualified it's burr or figured walnut. An inset leather writing surface is named in 16 titles. Oak follows walnut, often given a pale inter-war finish and described as bleached, limed, golden or blonde.
The pedestal and kneehole desk was long established before this period. What's new here is the Deco treatment of it: pale and figured veneers, stepped and rounded outlines, geometric case forms. Pale and exotic timbers make up a visible minority - maple and birds-eye maple, satin birch, macassar ebony, rosewood, amboyna, sycamore.
Beyond the twin- and single-pedestal core sit partners desks, about one in twenty-five of the listings, and a scatter of smaller and odder forms. Children's desks, corner desks, roll-tops, a kidney desk, an oval desk, a bureau plat and a metamorphic writing desk all surface, mostly as singles and pairs. Around 16 of these desks come to market a year on Sellingantiques, listed by 45 different dealers.
What Separates Them
Veneer does most of the work. Burr and figured walnut cluster in the upper half of the range, and the specialist timbers - amboyna, macassar ebony, rosewood, birds-eye maple, satin birch - sit higher again. Undifferentiated oak and plain walnut desks fill the bottom entries. The same pedestal form in burr walnut and in plain oak are two different propositions.
Scale and form pull in opposite directions. Titles carrying "large", "substantial" and "impressive" belong to the top of the range, and burr walnut leather-top partners desks sit there with them. Children's desks, small and compact desks anchor the other end. An inset leather writing top pushes a desk upward wherever it appears.
A name is the strongest single lift. The great majority of titles name nobody at all, and the desks that do carry a maker, retailer or designer sit near the top. Attribution is uncommon enough in this category that it changes where a desk lands rather than nudging it.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for art deco 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.
Art Deco desks have been listed on Sellingantiques since 2010.
Heal's·Betty Joel·Maurice Adams·Hampton's of Pall Mall·Laszlo Hoenig·Étienne Kohlmann·Maurice Dufrêne
The Art Deco Desks between £0 and £0 Glossary
- Pedestal desk
- A desk whose top rests on one or two drawer-fitted pedestals rather than on legs. The term appears in 37 titles, the commonest form here.
- Kneehole
- The recess between the pedestals or drawer banks where the sitter's legs go. Also used as a name for the whole form.
- Partners desk
- Double-sided, worked at from both sides, with drawers on both fronts. Nine titles use the term, and they sit mostly in the upper range.
- Leather top
- An inset writing surface of leather, named in 16 titles and sometimes qualified as original or patinated.
- Burr
- Veneer cut from a knotty growth on the tree, giving swirled figure. Twenty-one titles say burr, seventeen of them burr walnut.
- Bureau plat
- A flat writing table standing on legs rather than pedestals. One listing in the archive uses the term.
Frequently Asked Questions
What wood are Art Deco desks usually made from?
Walnut in some form names 75 of the 182 titles, making it close to a default material for the category. Oak follows, then maple.
Where walnut is qualified, it's burr or figured. Beyond those, listings turn up satin birch, macassar ebony, rosewood, amboyna and sycamore, usually toward the upper part of the range.
How are these desks dated?
The dated field is unusually complete for furniture, with 178 of 182 listings carrying a clean year. The spread runs 1910 to 1950, but 142 fall in the 1930s and 30 in the 1920s.
Dates are dealer-entered and often approximate. Nine titles say "c1930", others "Circa 1930" or "1930's", so a 1930 date reads as inter-war rather than exact.
Are Art Deco desks mostly French?
No. The category is overwhelmingly British, with ten titles simply saying English. Only about half a dozen sampled titles say French.
Scandinavian and Swedish origins are the rarest of all: a satin birch desk, a Swedish burr walnut desk and a Scandinavian birch pedestal desk between them.
What is a partners desk?
A desk worked at from both sides, with drawers on both fronts, so two people can sit opposite each other. Nine titles in the archive use the term.
They account for roughly one in twenty-five listings and sit mostly in the upper part of the range, particularly burr walnut examples with leather tops.
Which forms turn up besides pedestal desks?
Kneehole, corner, roll-top and partners desks all appear, alongside single-pedestal writing desks. Sizes run from children's desks up to large partners desks.
Odd forms surface once and then vanish: a kidney desk, an oval desk, a bureau plat, a metamorphic writing desk, a three-part desk and a corner desk with a matching stool.
Do these desks carry maker's names?
Rarely. The great majority of titles name nobody. Heal's is the only name to clear three dealers across the whole archive.
Others turn up once or twice apiece, sometimes stamped or labelled, sometimes only attributed. Those desks sit near the top of the range.