Description

Bearing a Duke’s Coronet

From our Writing Boxes collection, we are delighted to offer this exceptional Victorian Olivewood Stationery Cabinet. The Cabinet of large size finished in feathered Olivewood veneer and brass mounted to the extremities. The double doors feature a symmetrical brass mounted ducal coronet with a pair of wings above and the monogram (O/A). Each side of the box is fitted with extremely well made thick brass loop handles for transporting the large stationery cabinet. The cabinet opens from the front with twin hinged doors revealing an extensively partitioned interior faced in exotic Coromandel with Satinwood lining. The Stationary cabinet features a day date calendar at the top which can be removed by opening the roll-top lid, a removable writing pad to the right door, a writing implement holder to the left door and a pull out drawer to the front. The Cabinet is signed by the retailer Leuchars of London and we confidently attribute the manufacture Betjeman and Sons of London due to the high quality, form and design of which we have had similar and identical models in the past. The Stationery Cabinet dates to the later Victorian period during the 19th century circa 1880.

Olivewood also known as Real Olive or Mediterranean Olive. Olive trees are slow growing trees and are better known for the olives and oils which they produce. Olivewood is a yellow-cream colour with almost random dark brown veining.

Satinwood is found in India and Sri Lanka. It has a rich golden colour and an almost reflective sheen. Satinwood is traditionally used for high quality furniture.

Coromandel is a valuable wood found in India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It has a contrasting hazel-brown colour with black grain. It is a dense, heavy wood that is so popular it has been logged to extinction over the last few hundred years. This makes Calamander pieces even more special.

Leuchars of 47 Piccadilly, London established in 1794 by James Leuchars. In 1837 the firm received a royal warrant for the supply of dressing cases to the royal family. Leuchars were also regular suppliers to the highly regarded Asprey of London.

Betjemann & Sons George Betjemann started as an apprentice cabinet maker from a young age working for his Father in Law. In 1848, his two sons George William Betjemann and John Betjemann joined him under apprenticeships until 1846 when George William Betjemann started his own business with his two sons. In 1859 George moved to a new premises on Pentonville Road, London. This was when the business became known as ‘Betjemann & Sons’. John Betjemann was the grandfather of the later famous poet laureate Sir John Betjemann.

Johnson Family the Johnson family bear the identical coronet that originated with Maurice Johnson (1688 -1755), Maurice Johnson was an antiquarian and the founder of ‘The Gentlemen’s Society’ (Spalding Gentlemen’s Society) in the 18th century and was responsible for the revival of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1717. This Stationary Cabinet bearing the same coronet is likely to have been owned by a descendent of the family almost 150 years after the death of Maurice Johnson.

Victorian

The stationery cabinet comes complete with a working lock and key.

Additional information