Featured Antique Mirror with No Visible Markings

I love those stories, gregsglass. Such dedication and effort on your part.

TIVCT, those lead (bronze?) mounts on the mirror - usually called ormolu - which you painted, show an appreciation of the undercurrent of French aesthetics in American furniture design at the time. The simple arch at the top reflects an awareness of north Italian design that surfaced prominently in the northeast U.S. in the 1850s, and was commonly found in that region from the 1850s through about 1870.

 

Thank you Greg. As a New Yorker I have great respect for your dedication. Just please tell me it was not rush hour.

 

Thank you GHopper. So is your assessment that that mirror was produced between 1850 and 1870? I guess that the ormolu is molded from lead as it is quite malleable and soft. I came to this conclusion after about an hour of mechanically grinding the finish off of the first piece without any protection, so I cannot guarantee sound judgment after exposure.

 

Hard to give it an exact year, but I'm feeling 1870 more than 1850. But yeah.

 

but yeah!!!!

 

Hi TIVCT,
I have been stripping lead paint for 65 yrs and even asbestos. I never used a mask or anything. We did not know better back then and later I never bothered. My blood lead levels are normal tested two years ago and have never had any kind of respiratory trouble.. The same thing about lead and radioactivity from Fiestaware. been playing with it and eating off it every day for 50 years. Maybe I am a mutant freak but at least I enjoy every day.
greg

 

The radioactive Fiestaware thing is overblown as far as i know. Just don't put high acid foods on the red glazes.

 

Hi Evelby,
I use my 'red" for everything. The problem only occurs if the acid food is left on the plate for hours at a time. The trouble is if left on for a long time like over night it might leach out some lead or radiation. I had a few pieces of Fiesta resting very comfortable in a wooden cabinet for many years. A friend came by with a Geiger counter and tested the inside of the wooden cabinet. It showed no more radiation than the back ground amount.
greg

 

Welcome TIVCT! I would classify the style of your pier glass as Renaissance Revival, popular roughly between 1850-1880. I have seen examples of this mirror form in many larger Victorian homes, north, south, east and west. Individual style elements to attribute a maker or region are more in the realm of the furniture connoisseur and scholar. We do have a few on this list. Halsey's mirror is wall-hung and of an earlier style, Rococo Revival, a Francophile's dream. That style dates roughly 1840-1860 in the US, with many recurrences and interpretations up until current times. Here is a very brief overview of the American revival styles from the Met. If you want to do further research I would suggest contacting the curators at one of the larger eastern museums with American furniture holdings. Keep us posted, please! https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/revi/hd_revi.htm

 

Instead of painting the gold ormolu mounts, next time just clean them with mine ral spirits and then use some baroque guilders wax in gold that best matches what you have. The ormolu mounts would stand out better and be better conserved because the wax can always be removed if needed.
As to the other mirror, the 175 pound oval carried around on public transportation, at the Richards-DAR House Museum there is a similar oval mirror that was shipped to Mobile to a wealthy family in 1850, one of a pair of mirrors. After the war, both were sold and the one was bought by a local doctor whose descendants sent it to the museum after it had hung at Continental Hall the headquarters for the DAR in Washington, DC.
Well, I'm sorry but I cannot seem to get the pictured turned around or placed in the correct place. I was thinking that since I know 1850 was when this mirror arrived in Mobile, then 1850 would be a good date for the one Halsey has.