Anyone Know What This May Have Been?

A writing desk? For a corner of a room?

Maybe a student's desk?

Don't have a clue.

It looks to me like a one-off home made work bench. The feet are such that it is pretty stable, and the "work surface" is pretty thick for a writing desk. It has the work surface extended over the base such that you would have room for clamps to hold work. That little tray under would be in the way if you wanted to sit and write.

IMHO

Some type of sewing machine table

Are there clamp marks along the edges? Any signs of equipment or materials being placed on it or fastened to it? Any signs of anything in the drawer, pencil dust, ink? What kind of wood is it?

Looks pretty beefy, like it was built to hold something heavy. Tho' that could be just that it was custom built.

To support this device? S.M.

NO....

Looks like a custom made phone desk.....

Looks like a custom made phone desk.....

Uhhmmmm not to me it doesn't.

It's a wickersham table. The ledge and holes are for the wickerham's decklers.

Looks like an old home-made writing desk. The upper shelf may have held bottles of ink and the holes might have held fountain pens. The drawer might have held paper and the knee shelf looks like it is angled to hold books like a dictionary and thesaurus.

So far the majority thinks something of a writing table. Except for as someone mentioned the beefyness.

The shelf with the many holes, led one person to thing a writing table again but more specialized like a califagry (sp?) where the holes held different size pens, and or colors of inks.

Any rough guess to age?

Any chance you could supply more pictures? Underside, back, sides, closeup of top etc., how it's all joined?

What types of fasteners and joinery are used will help with the age.

Do you mean calligraphy, perhaps?

Due to the beefiness of the table, I suggest it is Moses' table for writing on stone tablets, and the holes in the upper shelf are obviously for the chisels.

Maybe it has something to do with spinning, and the holes are for bobbins of freshly spun thread?

The asymmetry of the design implies the left side of this table is the work area while the five holes on the small shelf will hold frequently used unknown tools. Since there is no room for knees under this table, I doubt that it is a desk. Unless there are some tooling marks that imply a purpose I suspect the intent of this design is lost forever to history.

This doesn't stop anyone for making a WAG.

My WAG is that this is a shop class project that resulted in this small table. I would use this table near a door to temporarily hold packages as one removes or dons a coat.

Some sort of desk for knitting, croch-iting or needlepoint with the holes to payout the yarn?

(Not that I would knit anything)

Interesting idea. Maybe the holes should have a belaying pin inserted for securing a line. I wonder if Netmaker might have some insight?

The only things I am certain of is:

• It had to have been a tree at one time.
• Those Two Brothers on Antiques Roadshow would value it between $5000.00 and $7000.00.

This might be an interesting spin-off program to Antiques Roadshow. Have some certified "antiques" from the show go through a much more scientific, forensic analysis of the age some of the objects. Since the scientific techniques reveal information that cannot be easily or afford-ably faked, the program could focus on the scientific methods in detail. I'd expect that most of the time the expert opinion would agree with the forensic analysis but once in awhile an expert would be found to be wrong in their judgement.

The final rub in the program would be a comparison of the cost in man hours and equipment expenses for the expert's opinion versus the scientific analysis.

It is a desk! For a left handed person! To be used on small boats! The holes are for the writer to hold (with the right hand) and, still, be able to write!

There may be a gold piece nailed to the underside for anyone who kills the white whale.

Contrary to widely-held beliefs at the time, Moby Dick was never a venereal disease.

Melville helped greatly to dispel the notion, by writing a book at this very desk.

Ben Franklin's computer desk. The 5 holes on the shelf were used to belay the kite strings attached to the computer's power supply, the drawer was for random access storage, and the shelf below was where he stored his important files

I saw a work bench very close to yours several years ago that was made for tooling leather ornate belts and horse saddle sections. They needed to be sturdy for all the pounding. The punches and dies used were round handled which fit in the holes with the handle up. I am not sure what the shelf below was used for. Maybe to store the rolls of raw leather. The one I saw had 10 holes if I remember right and it was in the corner of their barn.

If its not a valuable Antique, then I would take it apart, clean and refurbish it as best I could, put it back together again and use it somewhere in the house.....or workshop for small stuff....

Its a nice design I find.....will not take up much space, somewhere in a corner....

On the Antiques Roadshow/ scientific analysis theme. The back corner in the detail picture is mitered not dovetailed. The cross bars on the base were probably added later, or there is no point in having a cut out the legs. The holes are all the same size with equal bevels, the same distance from the edge and the 3 & 2 have equal centers. That suggests made by a good cabinet maker. Knowing if the shelf is screwed from the rear or plugged and glued with no visible fastening would indicate if it was originally for workshop use or higher status furniture. The wood grain in the picture suggests pine, low value, or oak, high value. There is no evidence of scuffing below the holes so pens or tools held there is less likely than ink bottles. Five colours would be unusual for normal writing but standard for producing illuminated manuscripts. On that basis, if it is very old, it is very valuable.

I think it's a standard school-room student's desk, about 70 years old or more. The holes are for ink quills.

My guess is that it is a washstand, with a shelf for the soap and razor. The holes are where the posts for a guard rail fitted.

It looks like an old school desk back when there were one-room schools.

I have seen old school desks from over 70 years ago, and this does not look like any I have seen (in the US). There is no hole for the inc bottle. What country are you in? Andy may have the right idea.

More than likely this was what was called a smokers table. The holes are for pipes. The tobacco would be stored in a humidor in the drawer below the table top.

This sounds plausible to me.

I have no idea why the feet are so substantial then....have a look....

Heavy set smoker.

What kind of wear and tear does the table top/ rest of the unit show? That might help in figuring its use.

School Desk:

This item reminds me of when I was visiting an area just NE of Matton, Ill.

where it is common to see horse drawn buggies on all the roads in the area, buggies and sleds for sale at the road intersection near a general store with a hitching rail all around the parking lot.

The local school had a wood stove at each end, fire wook stacked at the back, cords 4' high, 40' long.

The desks in the school were similiar to this item, all looked the same of good local construction and finishing, they were sturdy, had elevated pencil holders, the same tilted book shelf underneath, and a simple but satisfactory finish.

This explains my opinion of the item.

RWAG...An early (and painful) version of whack-a-mole.

My guess it is a woodworker and/or leatherworker's workbench and the platform with the holes in it would hold the different shaped carving or stamping tools.

Looks like the desk Bob Cratchett used when he worked for Ebenezer Scrooge....or not

Candle makers bench or early bottle rocket launch pad?

I would consider the "smokers stand" approach, the holes look big enough for a pipe stem and the broad anti-tip base probably had something to do with the builder/user's consumption of pints before or while using it.

I'm having difficulty with the smoking table, as it relates to pipe smoking.

Pipe smokers store pipes stem up, so the accumulated spit will run toward the bowl and not back to the bit.

It looks like a piece cobbled together from a living room set from the 50's or 60's....probably a home made set judging from the clumsy design.....maybe a magazine rack on the bottom and the top from an end table.........probably a garage workshop piece....

No idea why somebody voted you OT - it looks like something cobbled together to me as well. The various bits of wood just don't match. It must have been made as it is with some purpose. The horizontal supports under the legs, I've only seen on school desks (stop the rascals from rocking the things to annoy teacher).

That shelf (betwixt legs) is angled. It looks good for stashing books, but also looks like it's an add-on. The draw is completely out of keeping. I'd reckon both to be something that has been added. As for that corner feature, I can see no explanation for the conical shape of those holes - it isn't due to wear.

The flat working surface looks to extend more to the left. NSS, could you please give some more pictures ?

Thus far, I'm inclined to agree with others. I'd like more detail on that knob (ON THE DRAW !), and also on the fixings for the shelf thing. Where and when did you acquire the thing ? You can't hide on Pitcairn forever, NSS. Please give more info, I'm starting to get obsessed with this !

Grunion cleaning table?

Book or manuscript copying table where pegs where used to hold pages open?

It looks like one of those things somebody threw out in the alley when you were a kid, That some old bast... would holler at you if you tried to take it. Even going so far as to hold an all night vigil until the garbage truck came to pick it up.

Another wild guess. The vertical surfaces are heavily varnished, but the table top appears to be unfinished and appears to have been frequently scrubbed. Perhaps this was a table built and used for making pastry. The robust construction was to keep it stable while kneading and rolling heavy pastry dough.

appears to have been frequently scrubbed
That's why I thought it to be a washstand in #30

Still waiting for the OP to add some information here...or more pics.

I do not have this item, I was posting for a friend. And for whatever it's worth (pun intended) they just gave it away to a local like good will store.

...Then it's probably worth a bunch! Thanks for the reply.

I just saw a news report about a Goodwill store selling a 14th century King Louie manicure bench for $4.00. It was found to be worth $50.000.00.

It's a hugely expensive piece by Thomas Chippendale .