3 May
2024-5-3 8:40:45 PM UTC
In the early 1960's my farther purchased a Victorian pedestal desk from an antique shop in Oxford. The vendor stated that it had belonged to Professor Tolkein.
It has been a useful piece of furniture for 60 years but we are now moving to a smaller property and will need to dispose of it.
If the information given to my father is correct then it would be a shame for it to be lost. My father obviously believed it as he bothered to keep the receipt!
I would be delighted to hear from anyone with any information.
3 May
2024-5-3 8:47:33 PM UTC
Do you have any more information about the desk? Are there any writings in the drawers or on the top? Who was the vendor? Etc. Did any letters accompany the transfer indicating how the vendor received it from Tolkien?
Tolkien's primary writing desk has a pretty solid provenance and is currently located in the Wade Center. You can see a photo of it here with a description:
https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/acad ... eatured-museum-artifacts/That's not to say that Tolkien didn't own the desk you have, but knowing about the desk in the Wade Center will probably cause many potential buyers hesitation regarding the desk you have, especially without any additional information on how it transferred from Tolkien to eventually your father.
3 May
2024-5-3 8:54:47 PM UTC
The Bodleian exhibition catalogue (and exhibition itself) showed a desk of Tolkien's. Here's the description (item 126, p. 282)
...There were numerous desks and writing tables in the Tolkien family home. Some were in the study and others were in his bedroom, which was really a private extension of his study, with bookcases, a writing desk and tables. His main writing desk, given to him by his wife Edith in 1927, is now housed at the Wade Center in Wheaton College, Illinois but other desks and chairs have been kept by the family. ... The writing bureau (pictured) was given to him by Phyllis Brookes-Smith...
This desk is clearly not the Wade or the Bodleian desk, but Tolkien owned more. Without some concrete provenance, though, I don't think your particular desk would be valued as a Tolkien collectible. There's just a vendor's word (from the 1960s no less) at this point without further evidence.
3 May
2024-5-3 8:55:35 PM UTC
Tuor son of Huor wrote:
Do you have any more information about the desk? Are there any writings in the drawers or on the top? Who was the vendor? Etc. Did any letters accompany the transfer indicating how the vendor received it from Tolkien?
Tolkien's primary writing desk has a pretty solid provenance and is currently located in the Wade Center. You can see a photo of it here with a description: https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/acad ... eatured-museum-artifacts/
That's not to say that Tolkien didn't own the desk you have, but knowing about the desk in the Wade Center will probably cause many potential buyers hesitation regarding the desk you have, especially without any additional information on how it transferred from Tolkien to eventually your father.
Further to this, it should be noted that Tolkien wrote a description of the desk, on which he states that he had it from 1927, until 1972 when he donated it to Help the Aged in honour of Edith.
Also, and I can't put my finger on the note this moment but I believe that Tolkien's other known desk was a roll-top.
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