18th Century Antique English George II Virginia Walnut Bureau

This bureau is made of so-called “Virginia walnut”, or black walnut, from the Juglans Nigra variety of walnut tree, which was native to the eastern part of North America. This “Virginia walnut” began to be imported from North America in the 17th century, although it was not until the 1720s that it began to appear in England in much larger quantities. This seems to have coincided with two events. The first was the severe winter of 1709, which killed many European walnut trees, making the wood much scarcer, with a ban on its import from Europe into England. The other event was the Naval Stores Act of 1721, which ensured that all timber from the American colonies entered England duty free.

Virginia walnut was eventually superseded by mahogany, which became more popular from the 1750s onwards.