One my favorite cabinetmakers, Allen & Brother from Philadelphia was profiled in the May 1996 edition of the Magazine Antiques and a desk very similar to this one appraised below on the roadshow is shown on page 723. The attributions appear to be related to the the desk locks in the article having an “A” key, turned spindles, free-standing columns, and shallow incised carving which are all characteristic of known Allen & Brother pieces.
The roadshow tiles depict knights in armor while the tiles from the magazine depict bird imagery in the Japanese taste.
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During the appraisal, they referred to the locks being stamped “Shannon Philadelphia,” which I recall was a topic of discussion here a couple of years ago as being common to certain Allen & Brother and Daniel Pabst pieces.
Yes, that is true.