With doors open

Knobs

Hinge

Looks like a stationary box, with the bottom drawer holding writing instruments & the paper, envelopes etc in the top. Never heard it called a desk tidy before. mfrog

It looks like a high school wood shop project, or something made in a private shop.
I do not think it is a factory piece.
Did you find any maker's mark?

Thanks, no makers marks.

There is crazing on the wood finish ,

Makes me think its quite old .

Can you take a photo of the joinery on the drawer sides? I have sold a few of these, they are usually Regency/William IV/Victorian, but this one looks late Victorian to me, the screws look to be machine made. mfrog

Side

Underside of draw

Corner of draw

Inside corner

Thanks for your time mfrog,

This one has got me stumped

I just found this one on google under search "Victorian desk tidy"

Sadly there are no details attached to the website where the pic is

Can you help further mfrog?

I didn't get on the computer much today, I was busy helping to build a greenhouse.

It really has me stumped. I don't know if it's old or just trying to look old or whether someone has been "at it" in years past.

This is why I hate trying to date anything from photos. I don't like the drawer construction which leads me to believing it's not that old. I also don't like that it seems to be finished everywhere, top, bottom, drawer sides etc.... Also the stationary pockets are really uneven which leads me to a reproduction, but I wouldn't say for sure it is until someone looked at it in person. Do you have a dealer or auction house where you could take it to ask.
There are just too many niggling little things about it. It's still a nice thing if you want to keep your desk tidy, but I would want to know for sure. Sorry I can't be of more help to you. mfrog

Upon viewing your last set of pictures, I first thought there were no plywood in the drawer, but in the last photo, "Inside Corner", the drawer side appears to be 3-ply. Look this drawer over carefully. Are both drawer sides made of the same material, or is ti mixed wood? If the left side is plywood and the right side is solid, this indicates either a repair or the drawer was originally made of mixed woods such as might have come from whatever was lying around the shop (scrap ends).

The rabbit cut on the drawer front was made by hand; It was not cut by, say, a table saw.

jemdandy, I see the bit of the drawer that looks like 3ply from the top, but if you look at the other pictures taken from the bottom, there's no look of ply at all. So I think it may be an optical illusion.

True, I looked with a torch , I can't see plywood.

Ok, so no plywood. The groove along the top of the board made me suspect multi-layers.

I think the rabbit joints were hand cut with a hand saw and chisel. This piece may have been made in a shop that had no electric power.

Popular materials for drawer bottoms are plywood or sheet stock such as masonite. Before availability of sheet stock, drawer bottoms were made of multiple pieces of thin boards.

Are the nails round head or square? If the nails are handmade square nails, this could be an old piece.

Thanks guys , it has round nails .

This Saturday I will be taking it to a appraisal dealer that said he will look at it for free.

I will keep you guys upto date .

Please let us know what the appraiser has to say about it. I'm very curious as to what it turns out to be. mfrog

Hi guys ,

He said It's an old repoduction most likely out of south east Asia .
But he did say it had a few years on it.

Thank you for confirming my suspicions. It's still a nice piece for your desk, hope you didn't pay "antique" price for it. mfrog

I only paid $10 !

So not to bad

You can't buy much for $10 these days, even a old reproduction, so a good deal. Enjoy it for what it is. mfrog