For more than a century, nearly every American President has used a splendid desk that, in another life, sailed the seas.
The story begins with the British barque-rigged ship H.M.S. Resolute, commanded by Admiral Sir Edward Belcher during his search for the Northwest Passage. Sent to find missing Arctic explorers, it was abandoned by its crew in 1852. American whalers later discovered the ship, and it was purchased, fitted, and restored by the American government and sent to Queen Victoria as a gift from the President and the American people. When the ship was finally broken up, her timbers were painstakingly carved into an elaborate desk, then presented to President Rutherford Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1879 as a heartfelt token of friendship and goodwill. American Presidents have conducted the country's business across the glorious Resolute Desk ever since.
Every President since Hayes, except Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford, has used the Resolute Desk. It remains unchanged from the original except for the addition of a central panel, carved with the Presidential Seal, ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt to conceal his leg braces from view.
President Kennedy cherished the fabled desk. It became lodged in the national memory when young John Kennedy Jr. was photographed peering from behind the kneehole panel as his father worked above. By the time President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 the desk was so well known it became a precious museum piece. After being on exhibit for ten years at the Smithsonian Institution, the Resolute Desk was once again put into use by President Jimmy Carter, and the treasured piece of history currently serves President George W. Bush in the Oval Office.
Offered for sale is History Company's extremely rare, museum-quality exacting replica of the Resolute Desk, hand-crafted by credentialed artisans, carpenters and wood-carvers. In order to ensure an historically-precise reproduction, they studied the drawings of William Evenden, designer and builder of the original Resolute desk at the Chatham dockyard.
It measures 70-inches in width x 48-inches in depth x 31-inches in height. Functional drawers and cupboard doors open from both sides of the desk. And, just like the White House original, an attached brass plate is inscribed with the message from Queen Victoria. The Resolute is an extraordinary desk, whose history is as fascinating as the Presidents it has served.
