This is just because people have lost the ability to dare. Make a couple of holes in that baby and suddenly it's useful and beautiful. It's like buying a period house and redoing the wiring: beautiful objects must evolve with the times, even paintings by Leonardo might need new frames every once in a while.
Personally I love bureaus. Before I could afford the space for a home desk and extra monitor, I used an Ikea bureau with my laptop, for years, and i loved it. I looked at local (UK) prices for antique ones, about 10 years ago, but they cost 4 times as much; if prices have really crashed under £100 now, I might get one for my kids. Ergonomy is always an issue though, one has to be careful with proportions.
There are still practical issues in many cases I tend to agree. Unless it is truly a valuable piece, which it probably isn’t, drill a hole in the back. It feels a bit like phobia about making notes in books.
If it is a valuable piece, I don't see how a hole in the back is going to hurt its value as long as it's done well (symmetrical placement, sanded and finished, etc).
Just for future reference for me or anyone else on HN:
I found the George III inlaid mahogany bureau referenced in the story on the Gorringes (Lewes, UK) website [0] and saved to archive.org/is [1][2].
The sale price was £70, and the pre-sale estimate was £100-150. The story referenced a sale price of £85 including fees, so I guess the fees must have been £15.
That was my first thought as well... weight is a consideration, but the utility can be easily fixed with some basic tools and an afternoon. Worst case would be if there's pocket drawers/shelves behind the writing area to remove... but easy enough to do that, putty and paint over it.
Personally I love bureaus. Before I could afford the space for a home desk and extra monitor, I used an Ikea bureau with my laptop, for years, and i loved it. I looked at local (UK) prices for antique ones, about 10 years ago, but they cost 4 times as much; if prices have really crashed under £100 now, I might get one for my kids. Ergonomy is always an issue though, one has to be careful with proportions.