Brandy, Check your E-mail. I sent you photos ....

[Ed SW Fla]

.... of the lap desk. Was made in 1862 apparently in London, England.
[attachment 82320 PICT0211topshield.jpg]
Here is the maker's tag
[attachment 82321 PICT0223Makerstag.jpg]
Location of maker's tag
[attachment 82322 PICT0223Locationofmakerstag.jpg]
Front shot of lap desk
[attachment 82323 PICT0212front16inwide.jpg]
Lap desk open
[attachment 82324 PICT0215endopen.jpg]
Brandy said he'd try to figure out how the secret compartment is opened. I've highlighted the panel that somehow opens.
[attachment 82325 PICT0221backofsecretcompartmentpanelhighlighted.jpg]

 

[Ed SW Fla]

.... yep, I figured it out. You have to remove the left ink bottle then pull up on the divider:
[attachment 82328 PICT0224amp225inkwellposition.jpg]
Then "snap" the back panel pops out
[attachment 82329 PICT0226panelpopsopen.jpg]
Here it is as seen from the back with one slide drawer of two seen.
[attachment 82330 PICT0227panelpopsopenonedrawer.jpg]
Here are both drawers open. Was surprised to find anything in them. One drawer had hand marked and dated receipts for a "weighing chair" at the Crystal Palace Hippodrome in London. The other drawer had a folded up piece of paper.
[attachment 82331 PICT0229bothdrawersopen.jpg]
Inside the first fold of the white paper was the hand written name "Annnie", inside was a lock of hair with a bit of ribbon and the date Oct 29 1873.
[attachment 82332 PICT0232annieshairoct291873.jpg]
The weighing chair tags show that Annie apparently ate too much jambalaya as she gained 79 pounds when you convert the stone weights to pounds. Not all the tags are shown.
[attachment 82333 PICT0233weighingchairtags.jpg]
I was given this lap desk by my father before he died. In the lap desk pen tray was the original antique dealers sales price tag of 32 pounds sterling ... today that's very close to $64 USA. Since mom and dad had a small antique business, I'm confident they did not pay full asking price when they bought it in England in the 60's or 70's. Neat, huh?

 

[Brian(upstateNY)]

n/t

 

[Brandy[Ma.]]

http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html

 

[General Ray]

n/t

 

[Ed SW Fla]

n/t

 

[Ralph In CT]

n/t