19TH CENTURY ANTIQUE SOUTHERN US PENNSYLVANIA BIRDS EYE MAPLE BUTLERS DESK ~
Thank you for shopping with Bay Colony Antiques. We're a third generation family owned business furnishing homes all over the world. We aggressively pursue important antiques, decorative arts, and objects of interest for our most discerning clients.
With our highest compliments and honors we're extremely proud to offer for sale this rare & important 19th century antique Pennsylvania birds eye maple butlers desk signed and dated by cabinet maker. The early 19th century script is hard to decipher but we're hoping somebody with better eyes than us can make this out. The desk has an upper butlers drawer decorated with a cross band mahogany inlay. The desk actuates with ease and opens to reveal the original green felt lined surface with a stunning mahogany & birds eye maple complex interior. The desk is crafted from the absolute best grade of birds eye and is wonderful in design with nice scrolled columns & ogee feet. We fully inspect every piece we handle and are especially thorough when we encounter anything as impressive as this desk. We pulled the drawers and noted tulip poplar secondary wood used which helped us regionalize to Pennsylvania. Upon further inspection we noted the name Brotherton in early script throughout a drawer bottom and a brief write up we'll divulge into later. We note a few small, age expected seasoning splits on the side & a seasoning split along the top. One pigeon hole scrolling is missing but we'll have our woodworker scroll & install a replacement. Ask any furniture historian or antique dealer and they'll tell you only a minute amount of cabinets are signed. We handle tens of thousands of antiques every year and are excited to bring this piece of Franklin County Pennsylvania history to market.
The drawer panel is filled with old script and we've really strained ourselves trying to deciper this and we'll present the best lead we have here. As stated above the name Brotherton is repeated along a drawer panel & they were an important family in Waynesboro history. The pencil script reads
" Made in Mr _____ ________
Shop By Mr ______ _______
Waynesboro PA Franklin co
Sept 20th 1845"
Now we understand we're missing some pertinent info but we're hoping somebody out there can make this out and reap the benefit. We'd point anybody interested to search newspaper archives in Franklin county as they're readily available thanks to state preservation programs.
Waynesboro was a fascinating American city with tons of history and was well known for having a high number of skilled artisans including cabinet makers, blacksmith, and wagon makers. The area was inhabited by a number of important individuals and was a sprawling city and major trade route. The Brotherton family was among the earliest appointed land in the Waynesboro area and certainly would have had the means to commission such an impressive desk. Another theory we're entertaining is this could have been the post masters desk for the city but we're leaning toward the former. We truly wish we could research further into this but we're so backed up with fresh inventory we need to process from several estates we've been taking in. The desk measures 44" wide x 24" deep x 50" tall.
