Expert: Eileen Cronk - 5/16/2006

Question
Just purchase a Govnor Winthrop destk with a Mathogany Association label on the inside of the top drawer with the number 134 and a label on the top of the back panel, half shaped like a shield and the other half with hand written numbers. The label is red with black accent lines. I can make out some of the numbers:6_6_14. Can you give me any information on the desk. I feel I paid a very good price for the desk. What is the best cleaner and polish? I also live in Arizona and was wondering if I should have a humidifer in the room? thanks Roben Dille

Answer
Hi Again Roben
Thank you for the nice ratings.
I found this further info for you regarding your desk.
Also I do not think a specific book would be available, rather you will have to look in general antique books.
Or one with American desks only.
I know most book stores sell a lot of these books, or save the money (the books are expensive) and try the library.
Heres what I found
The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was a man known by the name of John Winthrop. Born in Surrey, England, legend says Winthrop came to Massachusetts with an original piece of furniture that instantly gained favor with the colonists: a slanted drop-front desk. After the desk became popular, it was re-named in honor of its original owner.

While the story is nice, there is little truth to it. Governor Winthrop was a real man who ruled Massachusetts until his death in 1649, but this was a good 50 years before the first drop-front desks appeared in his native country. The famous curves attributed to the Gov. Winthrop style weren't created until the mid-1700s, when Thomas Chippendale designed the first desk of this variety.

Although many members of the public believe this style of furniture was named for a specific man, looking at this story from a historical perspective, it is obvious Governor Winthrop never owned the piece of furniture attributed to him. While Thomas Chippendale technically invented the design, he never labeled it as a "Gov. Winthrop," either.

The answer to this riddle rests with the Winthrop Furniture Company of Boston, who created a new model of the desk in 1924 and called it the "Gov. Winthrop." The name is now a common part of furniture vocabulary, and has increased the popularity of other furniture of the same design, commonly known as the "Gov. Winthrop" style. Many different types of antique furniture can be found today bearing the name Winthrop due to this unique design.
Thanks for an interesting question.
Write any time
Eileen




Hi Roben
Nice to hear from you.
Oh your desk sounds lovely and certainly you want to protect it.
I live up in Canada, and I know well what humidity in the summer, and lack of it in the winter with the furnace blasting can do to furniture.
We installed a humidifier for the winter which certainly helps the furniture, but summer we cannot control as we have no AC.
I am not familiar with Arizona, but I take it its very dry there, so yes putting some humidity back into the air should help.
Other than that, keep all wood furniture out of direct sun and heat sources.
A good paste waxing with bri wax for instance is about the only thing I can recommend to use on this piece.
Apparently all pieces made with a particular type of imported mahogeny carried the label you described.
I read a piece a while back regarding this.
It was written by a very knowledgable man who is actually one of our experts.
I include some of it here.
Hope this helps. And I thank the author Fred Taylor.
- The “Mahogany Association” was not a company but a reaction to events. Around the turn of the 20th century aniline dyes were introduced into the American furniture market. This new tool for coloring wood produced some very confusing results. With anilines almost any wood could look like almost anything else. The most common use was to make secondary woods like gum, poplar and birch look like more expensive woods such as walnut and mahogany.
As the furniture industry got organized early in the century a number of promotional organizations took form. One of the umbrella groups was the Hardwood Manufacturers Association based in Memphis, TN. It had several “service bureaus” within it to promote different woods. Among them were the Oak Bureau and the Gumwood Bureau. In addition there was a separate American Walnut Manufacturers Association based in Chicago, the Northern Hard Maple Manufacturers in Oshkosh, WI and the Birch Manufacturers, also in Oshkosh. And of course there was the Mahogany Association in Chicago. It issued decals to manufacturers who could certify that their products were indeed made of “real” mahogany and not a substitute. The number 155 is the number assigned to the manufacturer who was a member of the Association but I have not found that identifying list in many years of looking. The Mahogany Association was discontinued in 1969.
Regards
Eileen