The original Secretaire Bookcase was completed on January 25 1787 and
purchased for 15 pounds - a substantial sum
at the time.
Today it still resides in Georgian House, Bristol, England. We constructed
the carcass from solid ribbon mahogany boards cut in the 1950's. The
veneer on the secretaire, fall front, and bottom doors is the highest grade of
Elm Carpathian Burl available. The ground on the fall front is comprised
of a beautiful piece of English Brown Oak sawn in the 1860's (in other words
extremely well air dried). The small panes of glass in the bookcase doors
are old glass from the 1700's. All the brass knobs are solid cast period
fittings from the original molds. The brass quadrants and catches on the
fall front were hand made specially for our Secretaire. The finish is a French
Polish which alone took more than a month to complete.
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