![]() Around 4,000 years ago, craftspeople in China created circular bronze mirrors that adorned the walls of the wealthy. These shiny pieces of volcanic glass were buried in tombs belonging to women in what is now Turkey.Īs the millennia progressed, and before there was glass, early forms of mirrors would have been highly polished pieces of metal. Archaeologists have found evidence of polished pieces of obsidian dating back 8,000 years which they believe had been used by Neolithic people to gaze at their reflection. ![]() Historians suggest that the earliest peoples evaluated their appearance by looking into pools of water. Just who has gazed into that antique mirror during the ages, and what has it seen? Today, an antique mirror elevates a room to become a focal point, one that reflects not only light but the history of the place. ![]() Some were used as ceremonial items, some to repel evil spirits, some to distort the features, and some to spy on others, but mainly we have mirrors to check one’s countenance. Throughout history, people have made mirrors in order to see themselves. ![]() The mirror in Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Wedding Portrait has confounded art historians for centuries while Pablo Picasso painted his muse and mistress in the Girl Before a Mirror. The evil queen looked into one in Snow White, and Alice peered through the looking glass in Lewis Carroll’s classic. The mirror holds a unique place in great works of art and literature that only add to the mystique. We’ve long been fascinated by mirrors and their reflections. Antique mirrors are one of the most decorative yet functional pieces to collect and own. Conveniently enough, you can consult a just such a professional in appraisal and valuation here at Value My Stuff, so that you can find out more about your antique mirror as soon as you deem necessary.We see the world differently through a mirror, and we see history differently through antique mirrors. While even the most painstakingly thorough of amateurs are easily prone to error in the process, a trained expert in the field will be able to take their years of experience and knowledge into account in order to find the most accurate estimate as possible. Of course the most essential measure to take in finding the value of your antique mirror is to seek professional appraisal. Related: Learn About Antique Mirrors Mirror Valuations The material of the frame can be telling as well an antique mirror will feature wood, wood veneer, plaster composition, or metal. Hand-forged fasteners will be noticeably less uniform than their machine produced counterparts. Often time, there will be a mark indicating the maker and origin. Antique pieces will have wooden backings instead of paper. There are a variety of ways to ascertain how old your mirror is. As goes with the fragile and delicate nature of their material, it is rare that a mirror will stand the test of time past several decades nonetheless a few centuries Thus an antique item from the Renaissance will without exception be worth a great deal more than even the most expertly produced modern examples. When it comes to mirrors, it is typically the case that older is better. Related: Learn About Antique Mirrors Age & Rarity of a Mirror As technology further developed and improved throughout the following centuries and methods of production consequently grew faster and cheaper, mirrors would become available to increasingly more people today nearly every home across the world has access to these once novel and costly. These objects would become famous across the globe as items of great opulence and luxury, only affordable to the highest echelons of society. Throughout the next few hundred years, techniques and methods would be experimented upon in order to create increasingly effective and beautiful surfaces. In Italy during the 16th century, the first ever ‘looking glasses’, as they were known, were produced from lead glass using a process of creating flat planes from blown cylinders. While people have used polished surfaces and flat bodies of water as reflective devices for thousands of years, it was not until relatively recently that mirrors as we understand them today came into existence. If one has all the right tools, the journey to finding out the value of your item can be a quick and easy one, of which the results may be pleasantly surprising. Did you inherit an heirloom mirror that you would like to have valued? Are you wondering if the piece you bought at the flea market is worth anything? Perhaps you found an old mirror in your basement you would like to know more about. Today people across the world cannot help but to be intrigued by the allure that antique mirrors possess, and it is a niche of the market that is consistently popular. Inviting the looker to directly acknowledge oneself and examine the reflected image within its framework, these objects have the power to incite contemplation and introspection.
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