Rare Victorian Forum

 A few years ago I ran across what I believed to be a Horner Desk that seemed to me to be a knock off or imitation.. It was made of a lighter oak where most of horners desks where rosewood or walnut (much darker) it was not marked, stamped or tagged and the carvings where clearly not as high quality as the marked originals I have had the joy of seeing in person.

Today I ran across one on ebay that looks exactly like the one I had found all those years ago... So, the question is; taking a look, would you agree that this is a knock off horner desk? or perhaps a lower end inexpensive version made by Horner or another maker?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150735415289&item=150735415289&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466

I can't really answer accurately without seeing the table in person, but my reaction on seeing the first photo and reading your post is that this table is indeed an imitation, probably made in Asia or the Phillipines in the past 30 years or so.

I have not seen Horner work that looks like an imitation of itself, so to speak. Horner's shop usually produced more ornate work than this, and if they were aiming for a "budget" look they would make the object plainer without sacrificing carving quality.

I've recently seen a large mahogany marble top parlor table that is a dead ringer for a $15-$20K table by Alexander Roux from the 1850s, so much so that the imitators couldn't help but make a good quality piece. My point is that even if you've got an imitation, it's still a neat looking table, as long as you didn't pay too much for it.

I would suggest you get online and look at some high-end Horner for comparison. Better yet, see if you can find a table or two to look at in person.