Gothic Revival Mahogany Veneer and Carved Desk and Bookcase

Gothic Revival Mahogany Veneer and Carved Desk and Bookcase, Boston, 1815-1825, two glazed doors that open to a three-shelved interior above the pull-out writing surface and butler's drawer that reveal a desk with a writing surface over cupboards, each with a small fixed shelf, (brasses may be original; some surface imperfections), ht. 117 1/4, wd. 65 1/2, dp. 24 1/2 in. Note: The bookcase section originally housed a timepiece in the cresting, which has since been removed. Provenance: Family descent to the consignor who traces this piece back to her great, great, great uncle, Elisha Parks, who was in business in Boston in 1818 as an auctioneer in partnership with Luther Parks, the consignor's great, great grandfather. Their business was E. and L. Parks Auctioneers on Kirby Street. Luther Parks also was a medical doctor and sailed as the surgeon on the USS Jamestown from Boston, providing relief to the Irish potato famine in 1847. Family history records that Elisha bought this desk and bookcase from the Hancock House in Boston for which he paid $1000 in the 1860s auction. Sarah L. Parks (Wheeler), grandmother of the present owner, remembered seeing it in her great uncle's house on Tremont Street. She bought it from her cousin's widow who sold it from storage when Frank Parks, a son of Elisha died. Sarah wrote that although it was built to hold a clock, no clock was ever with it in her memory. "The old griffin is there instead," she wrote.