• Forum server maintanace Friday night.(around 7PM Centeral time)
    Website will be off line for a short while.

    You may need to log out, log back in after we're back online.

Silver(?) Hand Mirror

Chefjuan

Elite Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2016
Messages
750
Location
Ulster County, USA
So. Yeah I found this thing at an abandoned house a friend told me about. It was litterally the first signal I dug. It was right outside the barn/garage thing where I parked my car and it rang up 97-99 on the AT Pro at 2". Essentially it was on the surface just buried in leaves. I thought it was going to be an aluminum can or aluminum something. I cleared the dirt and boom! Hand mirror. I laughed and grabbed it, thinking probably silver plated at best. Turns out it might actually be silver (explain more later)

Here is photo.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    44.3 KB · Views: 760
I put it away for a while then a few months later on a rainy day I cleaned it a little better and finally found a hallmark!!! Problem is the hallmark is very strange and I just can't figure it out other than it may be a german reproduction of a much older mirror but it may actually be made out of solid silver!! I have since shined it up. I'll post another photo soon.. What do you guys think?

Here is hallmark mark:
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    48.3 KB · Views: 737
Last edited:
came out of the gate hard there for sure tough to beat that, Looks super nice.
 
Dude...that looks pretty old and hand made...that little line around the edge, and some of the detail of the chasings there?..plus the hallmarks....not no machine die pop...I think you got a good one there!
Mud
 
Dude...that looks pretty old and hand made...that little line around the edge, and some of the detail of the chasings there?..plus the hallmarks....not no machine die pop...I think you got a good one there!
Mud

Good little tidbits of info there Mud, thanks! Yeah general consensus is that it's legit which is awesome. I just can't figure out why it was where it was. So odd. And why would someone drop/toss a hand mirror outside their home? Asi the hallmark is really odd, can't find it using the online resources.

The house itself isn't that old I don't think but it can't find any info on it. It's definitely hidden in plain site. The back yard is riddled with trash but I did dig up three bell ringers (like from an old phone ) which I thought was interesting. I wanted to stay longer but I got creeped out by the really large opening to the cellar that has formed and I'm in bear country and it was spring so I left it for the time being and I'll return soon once the bears have woken up and aren't hungry for treasure hunters lol.
Thanks again HH!!
 
Some helpful info for ya'

reproduction silver, circa 1893 to 1904 made by B. Neresheimer and Sohne

this is a maker from the german based Hanau silver industry in Hanau, Germany.


HANAU SILVER

From the middle to the end of the nineteenth century copies of old silver, and items designed in an amalgamation of historic styles, satisfied customer demand and preference. Many firms in Europe and in the United States produced this type of silver. Generally speaking, the recognition of reproduction silver does not present a problem since it is marked according to the laws of the country of origin. Contrary to this, the antique silver industry of Hanau chose to mark its output with fantasy marks. It is difficult to say if this was practiced with a clear intent to deceive. But it is strange that the spurious marks somewhat resemble old marks, and are also harmonized with the style of the piece. For example, French rococo style reproductions are marked with French looking marks, German seventeenth century-inspired pieces got German-looking marks, and so on. Furthermore, most Hanau firms chose as company marks styles reminiscent of seventeenth and eighteenth century maker's marks.

That should get ya started, and I wouldn't "clean" it anymore personally, some of these peices sell for thousands, I would have a pro look at it before I caused any damage cleaning it myself

BTW- Nice find!
 
Nice find. I'd say silver. I found just the back to an old hair brush. It says sterling 925 on the edge of it. Nothing like the condition you found but it is silver. You can google silver hair brushes and might find your pattern. some sell in the 100-200 dollar range
 

Attachments

  • DSCN4829.jpg
    DSCN4829.jpg
    62.4 KB · Views: 548
Some helpful info for ya'

reproduction silver, circa 1893 to 1904 made by B. Neresheimer and Sohne

Thanks Playin'!! I got that far but I couldnt decide if it was solid silver or not. That's great info though!!! Seems like it must be from that maker since I sid find that fleur du liet (sp?) symbol online. Just not all three together. Awesome.
 
Nice find. I'd say silver. I found just the back to an old hair brush. It says sterling 925 on the edge of it. Nothing like the condition you found but it is silver. You can google silver hair brushes and might find your pattern. some sell in the 100-200 dollar range

Cool find as well!! Congrats!!!
 
Good little tidbits of info there Mud, thanks! Yeah general consensus is that it's legit which is awesome. I just can't figure out why it was where it was. So odd. And why would someone drop/toss a hand mirror outside their home? Asi the hallmark is really odd, can't find it using the online resources.

The house itself isn't that old I don't think but it can't find any info on it. It's definitely hidden in plain site. The back yard is riddled with trash but I did dig up three bell ringers (like from an old phone ) which I thought was interesting. I wanted to stay longer but I got creeped out by the really large opening to the cellar that has formed and I'm in bear country and it was spring so I left it for the time being and I'll return soon once the bears have woken up and aren't hungry for treasure hunters lol.
Thanks again HH!!

Maybe the lighting in the house wasn't to good,could see better outside to shave...I've seen my dad do it for years.He has a little hand mirror hanging on a nail outside back door
 
I looked up some info on the maker's mark.. I am no expert AT ALL, but I am seeing some things that make me believe that you have the real deal.

I first looked up the TG maker's Mark
http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/London-TD-TH.html

See Thomas Glaser (he imported items)

I then looked up the portrait mark which may be a duty mark (scroll down about halfway down the page under duty marks #5)

http://www.925-1000.com/british_marks.html

This would fit with the idea that it was an imported item.

Can't find the mark above the TG, but it almost looks like a Glasgow city mark.

This is just a shot in the dark
 
Maybe the lighting in the house wasn't to good,could see better outside to shave...I've seen my dad do it for years.He has a little hand mirror hanging on a nail outside back door

That's such an interesting idea. I love it. Out of all the abandoned homes I have detected most of them are either fallen in on themselves or in wi h bad repair that I have always made sure to stay well away in case something falls in on me. This one looked almost safe to enter. In a Hansel and Gretal kind of way. It sure seemed like people had just up and left everything in the house a long tim ago and over the years people had started to clean it out. There were old coats and jackets hung out on the porch on hangers like someone was moving and then just forgot to put them in the car. Some actually had moss or mold growing on them. I'll have to go back and take some photos. It was just the right kind of creepy
 
Back
Top Bottom