mirror with scary faces

[Dean Perdue]

Great info Cougar.

I have to be in friendly disagreement with all due respect on the issue of refinishing, unless that what floats the current owners boat.
IMO refinishing would take value away.

If I saw this item for sale 'as is' I would buy it without thinking twice.
On the other hand if it was refinished I wouldn't even consider it.

Just a difference of opinion or maybe taste I know, but at least if you sell it 'as is' the future buyer has the option to keep it original or paint it red, white, and blue if he wishes.
Once it's stripped there goes the history,look, and value IMO.

Can never go back to original status once it's messed with but you always have the option to refinish.
I love the honest light age on it and think it adds to the charm and  given the season's theme I feel it enhances the overall look.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I have to agree, I wouldn't touch a thing on this mirror. I think it's beautiful just the way it is, and that removing the original finish would remove a big piece of its history.

[KC]

This was to hang by the doorway to ward off evil.  It seems to have worked well like it is....you may change the mojo by refinishing it!  ;P

Let's start a chant.  Don't refinish it...Don't refinish it....Don't refinish it................. ..

[cogar]

Now when it comes to refinishing, ........ whatever turns your crank.

But when it comes to selling ........ you have to decide what your best market is.

And in all my years of "junk dealing" I have never met or ever heard of a "collector of mirrors". But now if any of you have, please enlighten me.

My experience has also taught me that people don't go to Antique shops, flea markets, garage sales, etc., specifically for the purpose of buying a mirror unless they are looking for a specific mirror frame (refinished or not, with or without the mirror in it) for a replacement for a missing or broken one for a piece of furniture they own. 

Mirrors are "decorator items" and are mostly purchased on "spur-of-the-moment" decisions. And the better that mirror looks the better those potential buyers can visualize what it will look like hanging on a wall in their home or business.

Un-refinished, 5+-% of your customers will "look it over". Refinished, 80+-% of your customers will "look it over". People like to look at themselves in good looking mirrors, ya know. Especially the females.

[KC]

Guess my area is very different and trendy....because mirrors sell.  The best selling ones are the unfinished.  They are searched for majority of the time.

[fancypants]

My region (Pacific Northwest , USA) is of the same temperment as KCs' .
Folks here like the original finish .

For example , last year I bought an original watercolor from an estate .... a fellow collector/dealer wanted to see it .
When I showed it to him , he had near-zero interest in the painting (worth +$30k) & offered me a very high price for it's original-finish frame (from Fredrick Loeser & Co. inc. , Brooklyn New York) .

I've known the guy for years & never knew he is/was a 'frame collector' !

Go figure , huh ?

[hosman321]

I, too, am from Washington state and I always prefer the original finish. Even if something is very inexpensive, I usually pass it up if they exclaim something along the lines of, "Recently refinished!" Or, "Restored to it's original beauty!" All comes down to personal preference in the end.

[cogar]

When I showed it to him , he had near-zero interest in the painting (worth +$30k) & offered me a very high price for it's original-finish frame (from Fredrick Loeser & Co. inc. , Brooklyn New York) .

If you remember I stated in a previous post that "Primitives and "named maker" items are best left "untouched" …".

And I would like to add to my "soothsaying", ...... there are two (2) kinds of Dealers and two (2) kinds of customers ...... and nare the twain shall often meet.

Primarily, high buck buyers only buy from high buck dealers, it's a status thingy ya know. They get to brag about who they purchased it from as well as it still being in the original untouched state.

I knew the Keno twins when they were teenagers buying "marked" stoneware and they would buy from anyone. Their parents owned the only solid oak full-size bathtub I ever seen. But nowdays, I don't think I could sell them much of anything.

[richardo21]

Well then, it sounds like if I keep it and the wife wants to use it, it needs to be refinished. I am leaning this way...Thank you everyone for your interest.  It has been in my family since before I was born, I did discuss with my mother that if the value were in the thousands, I would sell it, but if it is only a few hundred dollars then it is worth more to me as a gift to be kept in the family.
 
To KC...if the faces were to ward off evil spirits, would it have been an american factory manufactured piece...in your opinion??

Cogar...I believe the face is carved from the other half, but as you say i haven't seen any nails but the whole board which the face sits on, is smooth which to me means that the face is seperate...there is no surface uneveness of the surface of the frame, it all feels smooth right to the edge of the face and into the nooks and crannies.  This would indicate a seperatly applied piece-would it not? Then again I am not a professional by no means.

Is it worth taking any parts I can apart and look for some name or something???

[richardo21]

I really would like all of you to know that I appreciate all your advice and opinions.  I have had questions on this piece for decades... I live in Alaska and there are darn few antique dealers unless you are interested in gold pans  or gold dredge buckets!!!

[regularjoe2]

richardo21 ..... you can check the 'carved' areas for nails with a strong magnet .... it's sometimes hard to spot nail-heads when they may have been covered over by finishes/fillers/etc . ...
sadly , this does not work for brass brads .

[KC]

As D&b stated previously in the post, I do believe made in USA BUT by foreign artisans.

The faces were originally used in Europe.  Although people fled to America to start a new life, they looked to Europe for style/design/trends, etc.