A rare Gustav Stickley desk designed by Harvey Ellis sold at Kelley Auctions in Holbrook, Mass., for $214,500. The 1904 desk, which looks like a table with a large box on top, has ebonized black finish and Grecian urn inlay. Only six examples of the desk are known.

Louis Comfort Tiffany gave his mistress, an Irish redhead, and ornate fall-front desk for the house she lived in. It was a factory-made desk with curved legs and front that he embellished with iridescent Tiffany glass scarabs and brass trim. The ownership and Tiffany improvements made that desk, estimated at $5,000 to $7,000, worth $34,100 at Thomaston Place Auctions in Thomaston, Me.

Gustav Stickley Desk by Harvey Ellis