Walnut Secretary Desk
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 Victorian Eastlake Cylinder Roll Secretary Desk Walnut circa 1880  US $1,600.00
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 Fine Vintage Mid Century Modern Walnut Secretary Desk US $1,260.00
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 ANTIQUE ART DECO BURL WALNUT DROPFRONT DESK SECRETARY COCKTAIL CABINET BAKELITE US $299.95
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 Antique Walnut Slant Front Desk Secretary US $175.00
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A Wooton Desk Primer
Critics of smart phones and text messaging ought to bear in mind that mankind's quest for order and its corollary quest for obvious busyness have been in existence for a century or more. A rapid search of antique furniture desks will turn up a number of innovations planned to improve efficiency and communicate to every person in the room that the owner is very hard at it. Five or six generations ago, the Wooton desk was the energetic executive’s tool of choice for both containing a flood of papers and impressing his associates.
From 1870 to 1891, The Wooton Desk Company created these furnishings in Indianapolis, a Victorian era furniture production city. William S. Wooton was the organization founder and the manufacturer of the Wooton Desk and also the patent owner for that specific design. In 1876, Wooton’s Desks were shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and turned into an instant winner with America’s captains of industry and finance, including Jay Gould and Joseph Scribner. Presidents Grant, Garfield and Harrison also used Wooton’s desks, and you can visualize the upheaval from British furniture designers when in 1876 a English newspaper ran a picture of Queen Victoria working at her Wooten desk.
While William Wooton sucessfully patented two desk designs, the type that most American home furniture aficionados will recognize is the type labeled “Wooton’s Patent Cabinet Office Secretary”. It was in most cases a tall piece which, when shut, was similar to a highly elaborate wardrobe. Once opened, though, the intent of this desk was quite clear. Two heavy doors were made to rotate open on heavy duty hinges to expose cubby holes and shelves of various sizes on the left side, and a solid expanse of pigeon holes on the right door. The center portion of the desk incorporated a drop down writing area and an additional variety of cubbies and pigeon holes. Overall, a Wooton desk had 110 compartments predominantly intended for organizing records of all sizes.
The exterior of a Wooton desk was commonly built of black walnut wood coupled with gold leaf accents wherever feasible. The left and right doors had a substantial brass handle as well as 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 pine which were lighter in color and presented a a nice contrast.
When shopping for black living room furniture, if you manage to run into one of Wooten’s desks, take time to do some research. The prices that Wooten's desks could get will vary quite a bit, from $250,000 to five or six thousand, determined by where you obtain it, what state of preservation it is in, and what person once owned it. One of the astonishing variables of getting a Wooton desk is that some were just as distinctive for their well-known owners as for the excellence of the desk itself.
Ann Nickerson - Nickerson Antiques - 19th Century Secretary Desk
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