Featured Help to ID Antique English Desk

Hi,

I am looking for an antique writing desk for our new home and came across the following at a local dealer. There are two different markings in the drawer (third pic), so a bit confused on which parts are original or were added later.

Can anyone help ID the time period and any other observations?

Thanks!

 

nice....classy !

 

It says Bates Maker, but I can't read the rest either. Nice looking desk.

 

Could you go back and re-do the pictures, they are overexposed which has washed out most contrast and also a bit out of focus.
If it is in a shop ask the shopkeeper to move it so you are not taking the picture towards the light, or use flash.

 

Looks like “M. Bates Maker. Great Britain.”

 

I don’t see your maker in this directory but u may want to save the link if you plan to collect British furniture.

http://www.achome.co.uk/antiques/furniture_research.htm

 

Excellent directory, but it's missing some well known ones. I don't se Ercol/Ercolani there, for instance. There is a company called Bates still operating in High Wycombe. Might be worth asking them. http://www.batesandlambourne.co.uk/

 

Furniture makers would buy in locks. Lock makers stamped their products, it is unlikely to have any connection to the furniture maker.

 

Very good point. http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/locks/gazetteer/bates.htm

 

Great detective work!

Scrolling about halfway down the page of Ownedbybear's last link, I see almost exactly the same stamp "Bates Maker Wolverhampton". So together with the GR crown stamp (either George IV or George V) that probably dates the locksmith work somewhere as early as the 1820's to the early 1900's.

Is it common to see the lock and key for the drawers replaced at a later date or should I assume the whole piece of furniture is of the same time period as this metalwork?

 

I think fairly safe to assume the metal work is contemporaneous. My gut feel is that this is early 20th C, from the handles and leather work, but I'd like to see more on the construction, please.