Antique roll top desks are a relative of the tambour front desk. Most having a series of compartments, shelves and drawers, covered by a means of a tambour, made of linked wooden slats that roll through slots in the sides of the desk. Roll tops could be mass produced and were the mainstay of small offices at the end of the 19th Century. Roll top desks are a popular antique especially with designers who want to re-create the “ambience” of offices during the turn of the previous two centuries
