PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON'S AMERICAN NEOCLASSICAL MAHOGANY DROP-FRONT SECRETARY DESK ,19th century, signed under drawer. Rectangular rounded cornice with rounded corners over conforming frieze with recessed inner-frieze; hinged drop lid opens to interior fitted with pigeon holes, drawers, and shaped vertical ledger slots; felt-lined writing surface; lower portion with recessed-panel doors; the whole centered by free-standing columnar supports ending in turned tapering feet - 62 1/2 in. x 42 1/4 in. x 18 1/2 in. Estimate $50,000-100,000
PROVENANCE: This secretary was owned and used by James Madison (1751-1836), fourth President of the United States, at his ancestral estate, Montpelier, in Orange County, Virginia. In 1844, former First Lady Dolley Madison was forced to sell Montpelier along with most of its furnishings in order to satisfy debts incurred from the extravagant lifestyle of her son from her first marriage, John Payne Todd. Montpelier's new owner, Henry Wood Moncure, resold the estate in 1848 to Benjamin Thornton from Gomersall, Leeds, England. In the 1920s, Thornton's daughter, Ellen P. Thornton, sold the Madison desk and other furnishings to Frank Campbell Littleton of Oak Hill (the former home of President James Monroe) in Aldie, Virginia. In 1971, Mr. Littleton's estate was sold at auction by C. G. Sloan & Company in Washington, DC. The Madison desk was purchased by Laurence G. Hoes for Leo M. Bernstein who then lent the desk to the National Archives for public display in commemoration of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. It was later on display at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, for the "We The People Exhibit." Subsequently, the desk was incorporated into the collection at the Museum of American Presidents in Strasburg, VA.
Accompanied by extensive archival documentation including original letters, affidavits attesting to ownership and photographs.
Museum of American Presidents, Strasburg, VA
Removable cornice due to glue block fracture; shrinkage to recess drop panel front. Restoration to fall board and two small losses on the veneering (now restored). Fracture to interior front corner of paneled door; light surface abrasions to right-hand plinth corner. Interior desk top surface with scattered losses to felt lining.
