that said , the gilding does not appear to date from the 18th century. The bureau has a distinguished provenance, having belonged to the collector Georges Hoentschel, whose collection was sold en bloc to J.P. Morgan and given to the Metropolitan Museum ( who deaccesioned it in 1986). It was sold Sotheby's, New Y

rence in value. This was a common pract=ce in the 19th century and in fact all of these later mounts were =n your desk when JP Morgan bought it from Georges Hoentschel. <=> So, now we=have a market where original condition is a crucial determinant of value.* With these replaced mounts, which are an essential=part