Q: What can you tell me about my desk from the early 1960s? It is an Alma desk from Wise Economy.
A: Smart collectors know that the issue here is not whether the desk is an antique. It is not. The question is: Does it have value now, and is it likely to have value in the future?
The desk seen in images sent is a large, blocky, wooden kneehole desk with a center locking drawer and three drawers at each side. Call it a double pedestal desk. One image shows an octagonal metal embossed maker’s mark reading “Alma Desks, Wise Economy” and High Point, N.C.
Through the ’50s and ’60s, Alma produced the Wise Economy line of office furniture known for imposing desks with simple lines, loosely known as administrator’s desks. Alma desks were made of hardwood cores with plywood and veneers, and were finished with veneers. In those days, being issued one signaled office status. They were bosses’ desks, and many still survive though in differing condition.
Once cubicles and open workstations arrived, the huge wooden desk became a dinosaur. Today minimal and functional workstations, even standing stations, are in. The tanker desk is an anachronism.
But enough time has passed that a new generation is taking a second look at all the possibilities offered by a typical Alma Wise Economy desk. Most had, in addition to multiple drawers, two pull out writing trays plus a spring loaded typewriter tray. Pull-outs could hold up to 100 lbs. Some drawers were specially designed to hold office supplies and some drawers locked. The top, usually well over 5 feet long, could hold a project and then some.
As a relic, the reader’s desk has gone through being passé and unwanted, and is now entering a new phase where buyers who can deal with its sheer weight, mass and (sometimes) dark woods see the beauty.
We found 12 similar desks listed on eBay for $199 to $4,000-plus for a mid-century looking version with an Eames-style chair. Of course, one can ask whatever you want, but getting it is another matter.
On the prices realized database www.worthpoint.com, we found a desk similar to the reader’s that sold on eBay in 2013 for $199.99. In the same year, another sold for $249.99. Both were sold as local pickup only.
Some listed were billed as mid-century pieces. That may be true date-wise, but do not be fooled; the style of most Alma desks is more Kremlin Modern than it is Eames.
The reader’s desk looks in top condition. While it is finished in a dark wood, in this case it is not a flaw. Dark woods, often sneered at as “brown furniture,” are currently out of fashion, but the desk is already a period piece; here the dark wood adds to appeal as the whole.
Will it accrue higher value in the future? Perhaps. It all depends on buyer demand.
