Replies

When I was a young man in the Air Force, I was stationed at Holloman AFB near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

There was an old rundown gas station on the outside of town I used to go to because the German guy who owned it, worked on my VW when it was having problems, which seem like all the time. Or rather he taught me how to work on my VW microbus engine. He let me use his tools and space to tear my engine apart and rebuild it. So I was there a lot.

One day, while waiting for a part for my VW to arrive, I was looking at all the junk he had stored in the back of the station. Piles of stuff. And in one pile I noticed parts to a roll-top desk.

I was in pieces stacked on the floor. They were almost black from old varnish. I asked him if he'd sell it to me and he said no. He just gave it to me to haul out of the back of his shop.

My first real antique piece of furniture.

It took me awhile to figure out all of the parts and put it back together. And when I was done, I refinished it. Removing the old varnish, sanding and staining the beautiful oak pieces. After few coats of lacquer, I had a beautiful piece of furniture.

That was over 50 years ago. I still have the desk but retiring and moving to a farm in Florida, my wife uses it now for her desk in the large country kitchen we have in the house. It's a beautiful piece still and is the centerpiece of the kitchen.

Luckily, when I met my wife and married her while on assignment there in New Mexico, she liked old furniture too. So over the decades we've been married, we have filled our home with old, antique oak furniture.

Some people have asked us why we don't upgrade and buy new furniture for our new house we had built when we retired here to the farm. Because we could never replace our old antiques with anything having half the beauty, strength and character of old oak furniture.

My first piece was the roll-top desk and I was hooked. Its character cannot be understated. No modern furniture could ever replace the sturdy oak antiques we have found hidden in old barns, on people's back porches and in piles in the back of old gas stations.

I would never even think about getting rid of my beautiful roll-top desk.

The sad thing is that millennials do not have any connection to antique furniture or antiques in general. The antique market is dying. Everything they have is viewed as temporary and can just be walked away from if needed.

The same is true with the classic car market. Millennials view cars as a piece of transportation, in the same way you might view a refrigerator. A car does not say anything about you. In the next 20 years you will see hot rods and restored classics being given away.

Or rather he taught me how to work on my VW microbus engine.

I transported my 100-year-old rolltop desk purchase from New Hampshire to Florida in my 1971 VW microbus—a camper, which I still have. :)

It's got over 300,000 miles on it, so I've had to rebuild the engine twice—myself. Still running, I plan to put it on the road again with a 2-liter+ engine.

I paid $700 for the heavy oak desk, thinking I had a "forever" investment, and would help to organize my frazzled paperwork-world. It was to sit next to my inherited Civil-War era tea table and my $4000 "Sheraton card table". But FReepers are right—the antique market has disappeared.

At a NH auction, pieces that I formerly would have paid hundreds for—maybe thousands—went out the door for $10!

The solid oak desk breaks down into five pieces, including the "privacy panel". (So it fit readily into the VW camper—even allowing room to nap alongside).

The tambor roller is in fine shape, but Florida termites are invisibly working on the rest. :( There are a few thin spots, so it'll need work eventually. Even asking $200, I haven't been able to sell it. It's fully loaded with paper-working items.

'Guess it'll get moved again to my retirement home (in my VW camper?), and fumigated against termites into separate pieces. Maybe treat it in the camper, or use large plastic bags? It'll replace my present POS pressboard desk. :)