Steve,
Never thought of that, i.e., the sticker being an asset tag. I just assumed that IH made the desk seein's how they made other things like Half Tracks and Refrigerators. They did have wood working assets, but, maybe somebody else made the desks.
How a fleet of executive desks came to be property here at the museum is another mystery. There was at times communication exchange between the corporate barons. The McCormick's contributed heavily to the funding of collections of the museum at one time. The wife of Cyrus Jr. bought alot of Egyptian stuff, including a huge funerary barge from the time of the pharaoh--only four exist in the world.