WINDFALLS

The true indicator of a person’s individuality is not, as most people assume, his finger-prints. A person’s prints may, in fact, be unlike anyone else’s, but just how often are most people willing to smear a gob of ink on the tip of their fingers and then rub the mess off on a clean piece of paper in order to demonstrate their uniqueness? If you really want to identify a person, check his desk. Is It mammoth or meager? Canary yellow or olive drab? Immaculate or chaotic? Are the contents flashy or subdued? Plenteous or sparse? And, even if every object on the desk mirrors those found on thousands of other desks, you’ll learn one thing about that person: He’s content with being one of the masses. But just in case your own desk is suffering from an identity crisis, we’ve found a few desk accessories that are anything but ordinary-you might even say they’re almost out of this world.

Resembling rows and rows of numbered M&Ms (the base is black and each number is a different color), this calculator, made by Braun ($80), is available at Rush and S. Vogue.

A precisely accurate, cleanly designed quartz clock by Braun ($38), available at Rush. Gray marble Italian ashtray, available in seven sizes, from Via Condotti.

A distinct improvement on the Ma Bell standard, this fire-engine red phone with black receiver and numbers is displayed in the Museum of Modern Art. Available in other color combinations, $150, by GNT, at S. Vogue. Metal desk calender with red grid paper and red binder by Ruddy Products, $65, at Rush.

For special deliveries, a snakeskin-embossed leather envelope, $14, available in assorted colors at Sakowitz. Pewter letter opener ($39.50) by Georg Jensen, available at S. Vogue.

A sleek, curved arc of a lamp designed by Marco Zotta, $250, in black or red, available only at Via Condotti. Circular-gridded ash-tray, $21, at S. Vogue.