George Simson established his cabinet-workshops in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1787 and a Piccadilly warehouse in Dover Street in 1793. He was a subscriber to both Sheraton's Drawing Book and his Cabinet-Dictionary of 1803. The former features a pattern, pl. 64, that corresponds to a Simson-labelled Lady's secretaire which is illustrated in The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, fig. 22. An example of the label on the present lot is also illustrated ibid., fig. 23, and is thought to be the label that Simson used in the late 1790s.
Simson is now also credited with the manufacture of the group of 'Weeks' cabinets that were retailed by Thomas Weeks at his museum-emporium in Titchbourne Street (ibid., p. 817). For an example of the group, see: R. Fastnedge, Sheraton Furniture, London, 1962, fig. 75