I wouldnt restore it before taking it to have it appraised. Restoring it my kill any value. If it has big value you could sell it, get more pens and another portable writing desk.
My fiances father passed in November. There was an old portable writing box like these with silver wire trim that is coming off. It was his mothers. She was a serious writer and had some books published. There was a secret compartment which after about two weeks of tinkering I figured out that there was a pin on the top of the ledge where the lid meets the bottom part. If you pull it out, it releases the lock of the secret drawer on the side. In it we found the last letter his mom wrote to him when he was young, it was basically a story and poem about her knowing she was sick and would not be around much more but wanted him to know how proud she was of him and how she loved him.
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