Object Description
This is a fabulous quality antique Edwardian kidney shaped mahogany writing table by Maple & Co, circa 1890 in date.
The shaped top is cross banded in various exotic specimen woods with an inset gold tooled green leather writing surface. The frieze has a lockable central drawer, when it is fully opened it releases two secret drawers, one on each side, via a spring lock. The central drawer bears a metallic makers plate, stamped, Maple & Co, London, Paris, Buenos Aires, By Royal Appointment.
The desk is elegantly raised on elegant turned and reeded legs united by a banded stretcher.
It is kidney shaped and finished on all sides so that it can stand freely in the centre of a room.
Compete with original working lock and key by Hobbs & Co..
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 75 x Width 100 x Depth 58
Dimensions in inches:
Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 3 foot, 3 inches x Depth 1 foot, 11 inches
Maple & Co
the renowned furniture retailer of London, Paris and Buenos Aires, were famous for top quality furniture.
They were by Royal Appointment and became one of the leading furniture manufacturers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. They used only the finest quality timber which was imported directly from all over the world.
Maple and Company were founded in 1841 in Tottenham Court Road, London and had premises there until 1997. By the 1880s they were the largest and most successful furniture makers in the world, their huge emporium having become a tourist attraction in its own right. In addition to their middle class clientele, they furnished Embassies, hotels, beautiful homes and palaces all over the globe, including Tsar Nicholas’s Winter Palace, the Hoffburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, and many of Britain’s country houses.
Alfred Charles Hobbs
(1812 – 1891) born in America, when Alfred was only three years old his farther died leaving the family destitute. Beginning at the age of ten, A. C. Hobbs worked at a variety of jobs ranging from farm help to wood carving, carriage building, tinsmithing, and harness making. While an apprentice at the Sandwich Glass Company, he learned to make doorknobs and became interested in locks. For a while he was a partner in a small firm of Jones & Hobbs, lock makers. About 1840 he became a salesman for the Day & Newell Company – one of America’s foremost lock makers. Here he earned a reputation as an expert lock picker. He found that the best way to sell his Companies locks was to pick the locks of his competitors.
In 1851 he was sent to the Great Exhibition in London where he successfully picked the famous Chubb and Bramah locks. ( “Great Lock Controversy” .)
Assisted by his newly won fame and publicity, he founded Hobbs & Co., London, in 1852.
Our reference: A2270