The large star-shaped desk, designed by leading city architect R. A. Lawson, held pride of place at the Princes St branch of the Bank of New Zealand for 77 years.
Construction of the bank building itself began in 1879.
The desk stands about 2.5m high, including an ornate carved spire which prominently displays the calendar date in several directions.
Over the years, successive generations of customers sat at the central desk, separated from others by ornately carved partitions, and initially used
Museum senior conservator Francois Leurquin noted the successively overlaid impressions left in the desk's woodwork over the decades by thousands of pens.
During recent dismantling of the partitions, parts of feathers from the old pens were found.
The desk is being dismantled before being moved from the museum's Otago Hall of History for conservation assessment, storage and further conservation work, as part of the museum's $35 million redevelopment project.
This is due to be completed in late 2012.
The desk, which was beautifully designed and carved, posed significant conservation challenges, Mr Leurquin said.
Over the years, the desk - which was presented to the museum by the BNZ branch in 1959 - had been displayed in different parts of the museum complex.
It was a work of art in its own right - "an absolutely superb object"- and also reflected a great deal about the time it had been created, he said.
It gave an impression of grandeur and solidity, partly intended to reassure investors about the bank's reliability and durability.
And lion motifs on the legs were reminders of the British Empire.
The desk will again be displayed prominently in the redeveloped museum, he said.
Because of continuing redevelopment work, the settlers museum complex was recently temporarily closed to the public, and some museum facilities at the former bus station hall will reopen on December 4, officials said.
