| Description |
Eric P. Newman's Wooton Desk His Workspace for Over 40 YearsLabel: MANUFACTURED BY WOOTON DESK MANF. CO. INDIANAPOLIS, IND. W.S. WOOTON'S PATENT. OCT. 6, 1874. Dimensions: 62 inches high x 46 inches wide x 32 inches deep (each wing is 21 inches wide). Note: this desk remains with the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society in St. Louis. The successful bidder will be responsible for shipping or delivery arrangements. This is the desk where Eric P. Newman did all of his research and writing for many years beginning about 1975, and it is the largest of three Wooton desks that the Newman family owned. Wooton desks, also known as secretary desks, were the brainchild of William S. Wooton who obtained patents and established his desk company in 1870, continuing operations until about 1884. These highly popular Victorian-era desks, with their intriguing secret compartments, remain popular today. Eric joined the Wooton Desk Owners Society in 1975, at about the same time he acquired this desk. This desk was probably stripped and refinished before Eric's acquisition. The remarkable desks designed, patented, and manufactured by William S. Wooton (1835-1907) in Indianapolis superbly represent a unique window into American history. This was a time of rapid and optimistic expansionism fueled by a combination of post-war unification and dramatic progress in technology, brought about largely by American innovation and entrepreneurship. The year this desk was made saw Custer perish at the Little Bighorn in Montana while the country celebrated her centennial at a massive exposition in Philadelphia showcasing wonders of the modern world. The old world gave way to the new, the progress of which was determined in part from Wooton's desktops. He supplied the newly telephonic white-collar worker with all the space for writing and filing they needed in a single unit -- handsome, perfect for the well-organized, and capable of being securely locked away. There is no more fitting accoutrement for Eric P. Newman, who embodied the spirit and standards of Wooton and a generation of exceptional American brilliance. Ex: Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society.
Heritage Auctions 11/2018 (Newman XI), lot15415 (realized $10200).
Heritage link: http://www.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1283&lotIdNo=11918 |
