20th Century Desk Sets

Hallmarked in Birmingham in 1913 by Deakin & Francis, this handsome, Antique Sterling Silver Rocker Blotter, is plain in design. The rocker blotter measures 2.5"(6.5cm) tall, by 5....

Silver desk bell made in the Empire style in Florence towards the end of the 1960s. On the body of the bell, with a glossy finish, the palmettes have been applied, characteristic of...

A Superb Example of an English highly ornate heavy gauge Adams Style Sterling Silver Victorian Period Embossed Single Ink Bottle Desk Standish, complete with original applied twin pe...

An exceptional, fine and impressive, rare antique European 812 standard silver and Bohemian coloured glass desk standish; an addition to our ornamental silverware collection This exceptional antique European silver desk standish has an shaped rectangular form. This rounded, incurved border to this antique desk standish is embellished with impressive embossed floral spray ornamentation to the anterior surface, in addition to fruiting vine designs to either end and the reverse; these designs emanate from the shaped rim. This silver inkstand is supported by four impressive embossed feet, modelled in the form of an antique dolphin/mystical fish design; each scroll mask foot bears a body which eminates up the corners of the swept base and incorporates the details replicating the aquatic creatures scales. The body of the inkstand incorporates cylindrical bottle receivers, in addition to a central table bell recess and fixed candlestick to the centre; to locate a four component desk standish of this combination is rare. Each pierced decorated cylindrical bottle receivers is ornamented with impressive embossed opposing scroll and floral designs, in addition to an applied floral motisdecorated border to the upper portion. The impressive Bohemian coloured glass* ink and pounce bottles each have a circular shaped form with a compressed upper portion encircled with impressive quatrefoil designs. The upper portion of each bottle retains the original mount and push fit cover. Each circular swept cover is embellished with scrolling leaf designs to the lower panelled portion surmounted with an organic decorated baluster-shaped finial. The exceptional table bell as a circular bell-shaped form, embellished to the lower rim with an applied scrolling border. The bell is surmounted with an impressive applied vine design, accented with foliate and tendrils, in addition to a spiralling vine decorated handle. The table bell retains the original hallmarked clapper and gilded interior. The incurved shaped capitalof the candlestick is embellished to the lower portion with applied overlapping leaf designs and features a fixed sconce bearing further organic designs to the undulating rim. The capital is supported by a shaped swept column to a swept shaped base, ornamented with applied pensilefloral ornamentation. Condition This antique silver desk...

Cartier suede notebook with silver mounts circa 1920. The notebook of petit from silver mounted with a brown suede base delicately made complete Cartier l...

A stylish 1930s Art Deco English silverplated four slice toast rack. Hallmarks on reverse. This fine quality silver toast rack is well made and heavy with a lovely Art Deco style geo...

Rare Gucci Desk Set in Sheffield silver, composed of: Pen holder cm. h.10x9x9 Notepad holder cm. h.3,5x20x12,5 Lighter cm. h.10x5,5 Storage box cm. h.3,5x18x12,5 Storage box cm....

Rhinostellation, Crystal Paste & Solid Silver by Richard Texier, Daum France

In 1938 Mrs. Georgia Oates — a former southern belle and a recent divorcee — plighted her troth with Mr. Philip Green Gossler, then on his third marriage. If he was, as they used to say, “a caution,” he was also a man of substance. A utilities magnet, he was “one of fifty-nine men who rule America,” according to his 1945 obituary in The New York Times. This 1930s Tiffany desk set belonged to him, and his initials “P.G.G.” are engraved on all of its parts, except for the notepad holder that didn't have a blank field large enough for it. Born in Columbia, Pennsylvania, Gossler attended the local university before studying electrical engineering at Columbia. Making a name for himself at Edison General Electric, he went on to Royal Electric in Montreal. Returning to New York, he rose through the ranks of Columbia Gas & Electric to become chairman, and, along the way, he orchestrated the mergers and acquisitions that made it one of the largest utility cartels in the world, with thirty-four companies in eight states. Appointed a director of the Guaranty Trust Company, he was admitted to the Metropolitan, University, and Piping Rock clubs, as well as the Royal Sailing Club in Nassau, where he wintered on his Hog Island estate. Gossler may have kept this desk set at his office, his East 65th Street townhouse, or his Nassau house. In any case, it was made from sterling-silver-mounted Portor marble. Portor is mined in Italy where it's known as Portoro. It was the French, however, who most favored its striking coloration of black, yellow, and white. That's why they often used it to top off their tables from the 17th century on. We believe our 1930s desk set was made for Tiffany Paris, not Tiffany New York, because it bears the Tiffany hallmark but not the so-called maker’s mark, which is found on all Tiffany New York silver. In addition, its au courant design is more in keeping with the work of the Paris Art Deco masters than the more traditional New York designers of that day. Among the Paris designers who had worked for Tiffany there were André Groult and Armand Rateau, who had designed their Avenue de l’Opera showroom. This isn’t to say that Gossler’s desk set was necessarily purchased there, since the Paris-made goods were also shipped to New York, where, it was hoped, they might catch the eyes of the discerning few who could still afford to buy luxury goods in the Depression. When Gossler died in 1945 the desk set was presumably passed on to his widow, and then, when she breathed her last, to her beautiful daughter Marion, who expired in 2018 at the age 99. That Marion had bothered to keep it says more about her love of the beautiful than her fondness for her stepfather, whom she didn’t much like. This, in spite of his having footed the bill for her extravagant 1938 coming out at his townhouse, and the St. Regis rooftop supper dance that followed. She too, as it turned out, was “a caution,” painting her fingernails black to match her dark moods, earning her the sobriquet "Black Marion." Back then, her name was Marion Oates, which changed on her marriage to Thomas Leiter, a Marshall Field & Company heir, and then once again following a divorce and a remarriage to Robert H. Charles, Assistant Secretary of the US Air force. Those marriages gave her the wherewithal to become Washington, D.C.’s most celebrated hostess, Oatsie Charles (a sobriquet bestowed by her by fellow debutante Brenda Frazier). There, she regularly hung out a ham for the likes of Jackie and John Kennedy, Ian Fleming, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, and Deeda Blair...

A vintage Mid-Century Modern desk accessory in Art Deco style, magnifying glass with hand carved bone handle mounted with a silver plated handcrafted chased organic decor, with geome...

A vintage Mid-Century Modern desk accessory set composed of an Art Deco style magnifying glass and a letter opener with hand-carved bone handles mounted with a silver plated handcraf...

Saddle-stitched green/black leather desk set consisting of a writing pad, storage box and a blotter. Stamped “Hermes” Writing Pad: 18” x 13.5...