top of page
parched_edited.jpg
Writer's pictureTodd

Desk Nine, Another Enigma

Updated: Jan 4

William Maxwell Evarts

The desk marked number nine is another enigmatic one that was reported as sold in a Boston Estate sale around 1930 and has since been lost to time. The conjecture regarding many of the other fac-similes can also be placed on this ninth desk.


Regarding a potential original owner, research indicates one name suspiciously missing from the list of known and potential owners is William Maxwell Evarts, who was the Secretary of State in 1880 and certainly had a hand in facilitating the making and distribution of the duplicate desks as it is documented in congressional testimony and other correspondence that he received four replicas and we know of two that he gave away. It is a reasonable assumption he kept one for himself. This could help explain the lack of documentation as there would be no record of presentation or receipt if he retained a copy.


Number nine (or another desk) could have been Evarts and possibly someone else, so the above is but conjecture on my part.

Comments


bottom of page