The Portable Writing Desk

I have been searching for a portable slope writing desk for quite a while.  At last, I discovered one one Ebay.  Mark, the seller, was willing to negotiate on the price and last Tuesday it arrived:

It is about 160 years old, mahogany, weighs a ton, in beautiful condition, and exactly what I was looking for.  The felt on the writing surface needed to be replaced.

So I did:

This is what it looks like on the inside:

There are two pull out drawers under the cubbyholes, but you can't really see them in the picture.  The original key was lost.  I went to a nearby locksmith, who suggested I go to Gene's locksmith shop, which is not too far away.

This is Eric,

who hand filed my key.  He is of a disappearing breed - a locksmith who loves antique locks and taking the time to create things by hand.  Here is the beautiful key he made:

It works perfectly.  Needless to say, I love my treasure and use it every time I write a letter or practice my penmanship.  I believe that things like this should be used, not sat on a shelf to collect dust.  I like to think about all the letters that were written on it in the past and the lives of the people who used it.  Now my desk will have new memories to collect...