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1876 Antique Wooton Rotary Desk

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD
1876 Antique Wooton Rotary Desk
Antique American Victorian Wooton rotary desk with swinging pedestals. This beautiful antique desk exemplifies William S. Wooton's innovative design and styling. This piece is executed in fine walnut wood with large raised burled panels and has a leather top with nail head trim. It has the patent plate stating 'Wootons Rotary Desk Patented'. A unique Wooton desk like this one will surely continue to increase in value. From a native Arizona pioneer family who was the youngest Court of Appeals Representative for the state. Purchased in 1967 by 'Eino Jacobson' from the Yavapai County Court house. Measures 67"w 33"h 51 1/2"d. An Indianapolis, Indiana, entrepreneur (who was later to become a Protestant preacher) called William S. Wooton obtained patents for his design and established a company in 1870. Production continued until about 1884. The Wooton desk is their better known secretary desk; the Wooton desk company also produced a so-called rotary desk, which is in fact a pedestal desk whose pedestals have segments which turn on themselves to expose more drawers and nooks. The Wooton desk was introduced at the end of the 19th century, at a time when office work was changing in a drastic fashion with an increase in paperwork that led to the introduction of filing cabinets, among other things. The white-collar worker invaded the office in huge numbers. The new reservoir based fountain pen and the typewriter were used to produce greater quantities of office documents than ever before. In this context desks which required users to fold and title each letter or document and place it in a pigeon hole, or small nook, were simply not efficient. It was faster to place an unfolded piece of paper in a folder and place the folder in a file cabinet or file drawer. In a sense, the Wooton desk was obsolete just as it was born and its biggest selling point was probably snob appeal in owning a complex desk with so many divisions and an abundance of ornaments. Wooton desks in good condition are sometimes sold in auctions for the same price as a top of the line luxury automobile.-Wikipedia