Dating a Mid-20th Century Desk from the Lock

[ignatow]

This may be a fools errand, but I am attempting to get an idea of how old a solid wood office/teachers desk is from the center drawer lock.

The desk appears to be all hardwood with a top constructed from planks of tiger maple. The sides are painted tan (which I will be fixing in my restoration) but they are all wood, with dovetail joined drawers, and the almost complete lack of metal tends to make me think somewhere around WWII, but I'm hoping the lock will give me some clues.

From my research it appears to be a National Lock PU573, surface mount mortis lock and is more than a little faded by time based on the oxidation of the brass (after I removed the four flathead wood screws holding it to the inside of the center drawer). I'm just trying to get an idea of the timeframe this lock would have been in service. Google has not turned up much in the way of dating this lock's manufacturing period.

See the attached pictures and help would be appreciated.


Thanks,


Bryan