James Mont Executive Desk
View Similar Items
James Mont Executive Desk
About the Item
- Creator:James Mont (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 30.5 in (77.47 cm)Width: 95.5 in (242.57 cm)Depth: 36.5 in (92.71 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1955
- Condition:very good, minor scratches to wood, refinished at sometime.
- Seller Location:West Palm Beach, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU90256594643
James Mont
James Mont’s life as an unmistakably talented furniture designer and interior decorator could fill the pages of a best-selling novel or be reimagined as a Hollywood feature film. From the 1930s through the 1960s, Tinseltown’s glitterati and Manhattan’s Mafia underworld coveted his sofas, coffee tables and table lamps.
Mont was born Demetrios Pecintoglu in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1904 to a family of artists. He reportedly studied architecture and art in Spain and France, and during the 1920s, Mont immigrated with his family to the United States.
Mont and his family settled in New York, where he found work in a Brooklyn electrical supply shop. There he sold hardware and designed his own lighting fixtures. The latter caught the eye of a gangster named Frankie Yale, who commissioned him to refurnish his house. Mont’s opulent designs drew on Art Deco, Hollywood Regency and were occasionally marked by chinoiserie, then a very popular trend in decorating. He created the kind of low-profile side tables and sofas that are frequently associated with mid-century modernism, and he is credited today with helping popularize the integration of Asian influences in modern American design.
Mont soon attracted New York City’s most infamous crime bosses, including Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Frank Costello. For a range of mobsters, he created fashionable, functional and sophisticated pieces such as collapsible home bars that would fold down and out of view — a particularly convenient feature during Prohibition — and tables and desks with secret drawers, which were also handy to Mont’s shady clientele.
“You bought a bar from him, and he would also deliver booze in a baby carriage,” antiques dealer and furniture retailer Todd Merrill told New York about Mont in 2008.
Mont designed a room for the World’s Fair in 1939 and later befriended Hollywood celebrities such as Bob Hope, who was best man at his wedding, Irving Berlin and Lana Turner. During the 1940s and ‘50s, Mont continued designing furniture, mastering finishing techniques such as lacquering and incorporating a distinctive “leafing” print effect with silver and gold into his pieces.
Mont’s designs enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s, and his pieces continue to be sought after by collectors.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage James Mont sideboards, tables and storage cabinets.
- James Mont Style Faux Bamboo Dining Table in Aluminum and BrassBy James MontLocated in West Palm Beach, FLThis stylish and chic 1970s James Mont style Hollywood-Regency faux-bamboo dining table was acquired from a Palm Beach estate. The piece is fabricated in cast aluminum with brass rin...Category
Mid-20th Century American Hollywood Regency Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBrass, Aluminum
- 1968 Executive DeskBy Warren PlatnerLocated in Hanover, MAExecutive desk formerly belonging to noted architect George M. Notter, (1933–2007) of the Boston firm Anderson Notter Finegold (now known as Finegold Alexander Architects). Current institutional memory at the firm suggests it was a special order from Herman Miller for the then new New York offices of MGM, however Herman Miller's archivist was unable to confirm. Styling, particularly the distinctive slim milled aluminum tracks through which the entire drawer carriage glides is clearly similar to Warren Platner's designs for Lehigh-Leopold which were then among the most costly of executive office furnishings. The bent flat bar chromed steel base with its distinctive pigeon toe splay is somewhat similar to a table base in Stow Davis' Electa Series, designed by Alexis Yermakov circa 1971. Walnut laminate top is very clean with no issues. One one corner edge shows a small separation. The only identifying markings are within the milled aluminum channel: G.P. F.I. 2 And the date Dec. 20, 1968. See image 18. Between the rectangular laminate top and the chrome base is a heavy blackened steel plate. Underneath the bent chrome pigeon toe feet are bars of a thick phenolic material which act as floor protector. We can have keys made to fit the two locking drawers. Tim Anderson...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsAluminum, Steel, Chrome
$6,500 - Midcentury Executive Boomerang DeskLocated in Esperance, NYFor sale is this very unique large executive boomerang desk. The top is made out of laminate and the bottom is solid wood.Category
Vintage 1960s Unknown Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsWalnut
- Mahogany Executive DeskLocated in Annville, PAIdeal for use either at work or in a home office the Niagara Furniture Mahogany Executive Desk with a tooled leather top is both beautiful and functional. Built in three sections for...Category
2010s Renaissance Desks
MaterialsMahogany
$4,110 / item - 1970s Burlwood Executive DeskBy Milo BaughmanLocated in Cedar Falls, IA1970s olive burlwood executive desk. Stately proportions, 72 inches wide, 36 inches deep. Full depth central drawer with plenty of storage space. Exceptional and stunning burlwood...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsOlive, Burl
- Fabio Lenci Executive DeskBy Fabio LenciLocated in Los Angeles, CAFabio Lenci for Bernini; rosewood and chromed steel executive deskCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Desks
MaterialsChrome, Steel