What We Did Before Microsoft Outlook
Critics of smart phones and text messaging ought to bear in mind that the quest for order and our related quest for conspicuous busyness have been part of our lives for many generations. A brief assesment of Antique Furniture Desks will turn up many different inventions meant to boost efficiency and communicate to everybody in the area that the owner is very energetic. One Hundred Forty years ago, the Wooton desk was the up-and-coming industrialist’s tool of choice for both organizing a deluge of records and impressing his customers.
From 1870 to 1891, The Wooton Desk Company operated in Indianapolis, a Victorian era furniture production center. William S. Wooton was the company owner and the designer of the Wooton Desk as well as the patent owner for that distinct structure. In 1876, Wooton’s Desks were featured at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and turned into an immediate winner with America’s barons of enterprise and commerce, like Jay Gould and Joseph Scribner. Presidents Grant, Garfield and Harrison also worked at Wooton’s desks, and you can imagine the outcry from British furniture manufacturers when in 1876 a British newspaper showed an image of Queen Victoria sitting at her Wooten desk.
While William Wooton personally patented a couple of desk models, the type that a lot of American home furniture aficionados will be familliar with is the type sold as “Wooton’s Patent Cabinet Office Secretary”. It was commonly a tall piece which, when shut, looked like a very ornate wardrobe. Once opened, though, the aim of this odd little cabinet was very clear. Two paneled doors could pivot open on heavy duty hinges to display drawers and shelves of different measurements on the left door, and an array of pigeon holes on the right door. The center portion of this desk has a drop down writing surface and the now-expected selection of drawers and pigeon holes. Altogether, a Wooton desk had 110 compartments predominantly planned for managing records of all sizes.
The outside of a Wooton desk was generally created of black walnut wood and trimmed with gold leaf accents wherever feasible. Both doors had a big brass handle along with a brass plaque, one with Wooton’s name on it and the other with the desk patent date. The interiors were made of other woods, such as satinwood which were of a lighter shade and supplied a a stylish contrast.
When looking for black living room furniture, if you happen to encounter one of Wooten’s creations, be sure to do some research. The prices that these desks might fetch will vary widely, from $250,000 to less than ten thousand, according to where you discover it, what condition it is in, and what person may have used it. One of the downfalls of obtaining a Wooton desk is that many were just as noteworthy for their well-known owners as for the value of the desk itself.