Pres. James Madison's Personal Desk Speaks Up This Week at LiveAuctionTalk.com

Online, April 11, 2010 (Newswire.com) - If a home offers any hints about a man then Pres. James Madison's lifelong residence speaks loud and clear. Madison, the 4th President of the United States spent almost his entire life in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Orange Co. Va.

Born in 1751, Madison grew up at Montpelier, his father's plantation. He lived there after his marriage to Dolley. He died there at age 85 surrounded by books and the people he loved. He was also buried on the mansion grounds.

Montpelier was 30 miles away from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate. The two men shared a 50-year friendship. People who knew them both say Madison was more interesting.

"He appears less studied, brilliant, and frank, but more natural, candid and profound than Mr. Jefferson," one observer said about the shy, soft-spoken leader.

Among the furnishings in the Montpelier home was Madison's neoclassical mahogany drop-front secretary desk. If the piece could speak what might it say about the documents signed and hours spent hovered over its surface?

On Nov. 14, Sloans & Kenyon, Chevy Chase, Md., Auctioneers and Appraisers featured the above desk in its Former Museum of American Presidents sale.

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