This desk was my grandmother’s Martha Talmadge somewhere prior to 1960. Then handed down to my father William G. Talmadge somewhere in the mid 70’s.  I remember this in my bedroom when I’d visit on the weekends.  In 2016 my father obviously got this crazy idea to paint it black and I think added the bottom shelf at that time.  I can see where a cross brace used to be, now this shelf.  He apparently found the wood (pine) for the shelf from something old from the Electric Storage Battery Company (now Exide battery company). He signed the bottom 2016 when he painted it.  After inheriting a few years ago and spending more than 30 hours stripping down and oil finishing it, it is now back, close to the origin condition.  They don’t make furniture out of solid oak anymore.