Recently found an antique lap desk for sale in Canada — it had a number of needed repairs. The following are just some of the issues: 1) One slope lid was jammed inside box, 2) The leather slope had damage in multiple sections, 3) The hinges were in the incorrect place, 4) The baize needed to be replaced (currently none), 5) Multiple pieces needed to be glued back on (loose nameplate, and accents), and finally 6) The leather slope was fully detached from desk.
Before photos:
If you are thinking this might be something you should pass on, well, you might be right. The box had a lot going for it though — it had a wonderful walnut patina that is hard to find nowadays. It also had its original leather slope, lock, and key. The price ($100 even and free shipping) was also very good and allowed me to see the overall value in box, if restored.
Once I received the box, I ordered new hinges — the same metal and shape as original. The hinges currently used, were in the wrong spot, and made repairing the slope very difficult to impossible. The hinges were hard to find — finally found a vendor on Etsy based in China (ForestEra). They were exactly what I needed and were sold in bulk (saving me money and adding to my supply for future restorations). Then I wait……….a month. The shipping took a while but there was no other way.
When I received the hinges I went to work. Firstly, unjammed lid that was stuck in desk (easier that I thought originally). Then I removed old hinges (saved them for future projects — you never know) and replaced with new hinged that were just ordered. Then replaced baize on bottom of box, repaired the original leather slope, and connected slope lids to desk. This was done with wood glue, tacky glue, and some bookbinding tape (black, so it matched to leather slope). In this case I saved as much of the original leather slope as possible — wanted to look original. There was some small pieces I had to cut because of ware.
The last piece was just gluing the nameplate, and some veneer to box — used clear Gorilla glue on nameplate and wood glue on the rest. Also added new tassel for the key and allowed everything a couple hours to dry. The desk still has some damage that can’t be fixed — cracks in various places but it doesn’t take away from beauty of the antique. The box was bought for $100 and will be sold for $239.
There’s the value!!! See Pictures!!!
After photos:
