Two New Mid-Century Steel Desks

Two new steel wonders to report and with them – success on my initial goal of replacing the cheapo laminated MDF desks in the lab with quality (and cool) retro tankers.

Yawman and Erbe Double Pedestal Steel Tanker with Typewriter Lift

Spotted at a moving sale by Eagle-Eyes Jenny,this desk has a cool rounded top with stainless corners.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it – though apparently the design was the subject of a patent suit.  Y&E lost the case and the patent was invalidated for lack of novelty.   Some googling shows early history on Y&E here.  A picture of the proprietors here. 

Here is before a thorough clean-up. 

 

Here is the manufacturer’s badge.

 

 

And here it is in place, and it’s a big improvement from the buffet table that I was using for a work surface in The Lab.  This photo shows the typewriter tray raised and out.  It stores in either the up or down position. 

Other than the patent information I couldn’t find anything interesting on the web about Y & E’s metal furniture lines.   Their older oak office pieces however are awesome and talked about quite a bit.  If I ever run into something like this at garage sale pricing (as opposed to antique retail) I'm snapping it up quick!

 

Art Metal Single Pedestal Tanker

With tankers in the lab for both me and Jenny, Tommy was feeling a little left out.  I was hoping to encounter a single-pedestal model that would fit in the same space as his old desk.  I set up a Craigslist RSS feed to watch for these desks.  After a few weeks I spotted this one and though it was a haul to go and get it, I went the same day.

It had been disassembled but was not a problem to get back together and cleaned up.

 

The usual shot of the manufacturer’s badge

 

Here is some early history at Google Books (at Page 154).  Art Metal tankers are among the most popular with the retro/refinished dealers.    I love the title of the out of print, house volume about the company: 

Things That Live Forever - Being the story of office equipment from the dawn of thought to the age of art metal.

If anyone wants to part with a copy – drop me a line.

So now what?  There is no more room (or need) for more tanker desks at the farm, so I may scale back the searching a bit.  If I find the right piece for the right price I might think about blasting one down to the bare metal, clear-coating it and selling it.  A friend has offered use of his sandblaster (with walnut shell media of course.)   Maybe I’ll run across the holy-grail of metal desks (PDF viewer required).

I need to keep my eyes open for (and teach the kids to look for) some nice mid-century steel roller chairs to go with these! 

The quality and durability of some of the stuff we used to actually make in this country is pretty amazing.  Working with (and lifting) these desks, one can’t help but contrast these with the disposable junk that tends to fill up offices and homes in their place today.  I spent some time and gas, and effort to clean these up but I paid less than $80 total for all three of the tankers on this blog, and enjoyed the hunt and learning about them.  Take that, Wal Mart.

Item Details:

Yawman and Erbe Double Pedestal Steel Tanker with Typewriter Lift

&

Art Metal Single Pedestal Tanker Desk

Construction Materials (Both):

Steel with melamine surfaces

Manufacturer Information:

Yawman and Erbe Manufacturing Company, Rochester, NY

&

Art Metal Construction Company, Jamestown, NY