old mirrors strange etching?

[sellsfish]

my wife found these in the attic of a decease relative .I am curious as to how they were made . they appear to have a soft metal design on the them .. I do not want to open the backs of them ( will leave that to an expert) .These pieces are very heavy for there size (20lb?) I showed them to a local dealer and he had no idea as to the maker , age or value of these very odd pieces . any help is appreciated

[KC]

Are the "designs" in what appears to be glass?

[sellsfish]

they appear to be affixed to the back side of the mirror, may be metallic (lead or silver )  I don't know for certain I don't want to disturb the backing on the frames

[D&b antiques]

This type of work was being done. in England & the U.S.A by the 1920's but sorry to say. I don't know what they call it.

[regularjoe2]

Curious items , sellsfish .

I'm wondering if this is silver overlay work .

It would help to know if the metal areas in question are very thick , or thin like paper .

Thanks for posting your items .

[sellsfish]

Curious items , sellsfish .

I'm wondering if this is silver overlay work .

It would help to know if the metal areas in question are very thick , or thin like paper .

Thanks for posting your items .

The pictures are deceiving, as they make it appear that the metal is on the front. You are actually looking through the glass, and the metal seems to be filling actual depressions in the glass.


I took one of them, to a couple more shops, and both proprietors could not ID the year or style. I did not let them remove the backing. I am going to check with a few shops in Charleston next week......will keep you posted

[Old61]

Looks like chipped glass. Here's an example http://www.jacksonvilleartglass.com/images_headlines/Glue%20chip.JPG

[regularjoe2]

Thanks for your update , sellsfish .

I'll speculate that what you're seeing , in the looking-glass , is an etching ( one quite possibly sand-blasted ) that has got alot of fine texture in it .
I believe it's mirror-coated , done at the same time as was the rest of the mirror , mostly .
The optical illusion is effective , for the non-polished glass areas appear to be lower-gloss metal (which , of course , it is ) .

I'llk poke around some more .

[KC]

I tend to agree RegJoe

[sapphire]

Came across this one. Much more elaborate, but 'similar'.

http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/images,id,826374.html#image3

[regularjoe2]

Been finding ones like that too , sapphire .

No exact matches here yet .

[KC]

Please post pics of the backs!

[sellsfish]

KC

the back side of the mirrors are covered with brown paper ... looks fairly new ...I didn't want to open the backs I wanted to let some one who knew what they were doing  have a go at it ...