Schoolmaster’s Desk & Chair

Q: I inherited this schoolmaster’s desk and chair from my mother. She told me my grandfather bought it for her in Philadelphia in the 1940s and always said it had been “Peter Hunted” (whatever that means). She also said an antique dealer once told her that the desk and chair would be more valuable if they were not painted and that the chair is older than the desk. He also thought the desk legs might have been shortened. The inside of the desk has many cubbyholes. Can you give me more information?