What's missing from this Eastlake pier mirror? How old is it?

I was in the market for a tall mirror and found this one at a very reasonable price. It has been painted at least once and stripped at least once. It is currently finished with a semi-transparent paint or stain.

I enjoy antiques but I am a novice in identification. The seller believed that this piece was in the Eastlake style, and my research tends to agree. He said 1860's; my research suggests 1870's-1890's. Please let me know if you have any more info about its style or date.

I believe that the parts in the middle on top are not original (two carved swoops, rectangle with linear carving, and the three carved square medallions). There is evidence that another piece of wood was glued on top between the two carved swoops, and that piece is missing, but I believe it was not original anyway.

I believe that this mirror is primarily made of walnut. The painted gold mirror border, however, looks like yellow pine. The rectangle on top at the middle appears to be pine, and the carved swoops on top of that look like South American mahogany. As I get this mirror stripped down, I expect to have a better idea of what woods I am working with.

This mirror also came with a shelf to go under it that I don't believe matches the piece in age or style, and has much more modern finials attached. If the shelf is the same type of wood I may refinish it and try to fix it up to match, but that is going to be a future project. The shelf is shown in one of the pics, and your thoughts on it would also be appreciated.

The big question is, what's missing in the middle? I suspect that the three mini spindles on each side are original. I also suspect that something taller was in the middle, and that it probably continued the theme of a vertical orientation, light carvings, and maybe a half-circle to match those quarter-circles on the edges. The top rails over the sets of mini spindles have smooth, square cuts, so I think those are unmodified from the original.

Any information or ideas about style, age, or background of this piece would be much appreciated. I'm also looking for ideas for what to fabricate to replace the unoriginal parts with something that better matches the style of this piece. If you have a picture of a piece with very similar style, that would be very helpful in recreating the missing/replaced section.

Thank you
R. Neil Covington

 

Whether the shelf at the bottom was original to the mirror, I don't know.
The pineapple finials look like they belong on something entirely different than the shelf. Completely different style and period than the mirror and shelf.

 

Agree that the shelf does not go with the mirror and also doubt that the pineapple finials are right for the shelf. Would need to see a profile of the shelf to tell style but could be Renaissance Revival.

As for the mirror, I don't think the two curled carvings at top center are original to it. The panel below it with the three medallions is also probably not original but of that I am less sure. Agree that it needs something taller in the center. You will probably never find another exactly like this to know what it originally looked like. Looking at other mirrors for ideas and extrapolating from existing elements in the mirror is probably going to be your best bet.

 

The bottom shelf looks very like it is part of the whole, but the pineapples look as if they were borrowed from somebody's bedposts.

What wonders me, however, is the little mustache on top??!! Like a pair of baby whales staring at each other...

 

LOL! I began writing, and then got a long phone call, so had to stop and go back later. In the meantime, Brad arrived. Glad he noticed the whales, but am not sure I agree about the shelf.

There was a gorgeous pier mirror in my house when I bought it -- complete with a marble shelf and ornate um...things...to hold up the whole business.

 

It seems that you had analyzed it pretty well, and the replies also seem to support what you said. I don't know much about this, so will leave it to others to address the idea of the dates that you asked about.

I did a search on Eastlake "pier" mirror and found tons of photos, none of which match yours but that you might use for ideas on what to put on the top of the mirror.

https://www.google.com/search?q=eas...goHQCQ&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=889#imgdii=_

About the mirror, I think instead of the two current finials it would have had something carved in the same style as the part in the middle. But don't know what that would have been.