Antique Mirrors

Where the glass is often older than it looks, and rarer than the frame.

An original mirror plate is one of the most easily lost elements in antique furniture, replaced routinely over two centuries by owners who wanted a clearer reflection. The soft, slightly grey depth of an early plate, and the spotting that comes with age, are qualities collectors now seek rather than defects to be corrected. The Antique Guild assesses plate, frame and any regilding or replacement before a mirror enters the collection. We deliver throughout Australia. Explore the current selection below.

Why collect antique mirrors through The Antique Guild

Every mirror assessed for frame period and construction, original glass where present, and the integrity of gilding orfinish
Specialist knowledge across giltwood pier glasses, overmantel mirrors, convex mirrors and Venetian examples from the 17th century through to Art Deco
Sourced from private estates and specialist collections, with a particular focus on frames of genuine period quality
Mirrors chosen for the way they change a room — antique glass and gilding bring a quality of light that cannot be replicated

Care Guide

What to Look For When Buying

Look at the plate before the frame. Early glass is thinner, slightly uneven, and often shows a faint grey or bluish cast with minor distortion when you move across it, and the reflection has a softness that modern float glass does not have. Age also brings foxing, the cloudy dark spotting where the backing has deteriorated, which is generally regarded as desirable evidence of an original plate rather than damage. A bright, perfectly even, crisply reflective plate in an eighteenth or nineteenth century frame is almost certainly a replacement. Check the bevel, which on early plates was ground shallow and wide and feels soft to the touch, against the narrow, sharply defined bevel of modern glass.

The frame carries its own questions. Giltwood frames were made by applying gesso and gold leaf over carved timber, and the value lies substantially in whether that original surface survives. Later regilding, and worse, gold paint applied over the original, are both common and both reduce value considerably. Look for the fine crackle of old gesso, for areas where the bole beneath the leaf shows through as a warm red, and for detail that has been softened by successive coatings. Examine the back for original backboards, old nails and evidence that the plate has not been removed. We describe plate originality, frame condition and any regilding in every listing.

Caring for Your Piece

Hang mirrors from a fixing rated well above the actual weight, into a stud or with an appropriate masonry fixing, using two points rather than one, and check the fixing periodically. The weight of a large period mirror is frequently underestimated. Avoid hanging mirrors in bathrooms or anywhere humid, since moisture is what destroys the silvering behind the plate and causes foxing to spread, and keep them away from direct sunlight and from heating and cooling outlets.

Clean the glass with a barely damp soft cloth, never a spray, and never allow moisture to reach the edges of the plate, which is exactly where it penetrates the backing and causes irreversible loss. Dust gilded frames with a soft brush only. Do not wash, wipe with a damp cloth, wax or polish a giltwood frame under any circumstances, as water dissolves the gesso and any polish will remove or dull the leaf. Loose gesso and lifting leaf should go to a specialist gilder, and small losses are better stabilised than touched in at home, since gold paint over original gilding is difficult to reverse and immediately visible.

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Should I replace an old, spotted mirror plate?

Almost never. Foxing and the slight dimness of an early plate are what identify it as original, and replacing it removes a substantial part of the mirror's value and interest. If the reflection matters more than the object, a modern mirror is the better purchase. Where a plate is broken or missing entirely, a replacement is reasonable, and the old plate or its fragments are worth keeping.
Can a gilded frame be cleaned?

Only by dusting with a soft brush. Water, cleaning products, wax and polish all damage water gilding, and gold leaf is measured in microns, so there is very little to lose before the gesso shows through. Where a frame is genuinely dirty or damaged, a conservator specialising in gilding can clean and consolidate it. Gold paint is not a repair and should not be applied to an original surface.
How do I know if a frame has been regilded?

Original water gilding has a depth and a slight variation that later work rarely achieves, along with fine crackle in the gesso and warm red bole showing through at the wear points where handling naturally occurs. Regilded frames often look uniformly bright and slightly flat, with carved detail softened by the additional layers. Oil gilding and gold paint both sit differently on the surface and usually feel and reflect quite differently from original leaf.
Where should I avoid hanging an antique mirror?

Bathrooms, laundries, directly above heating outlets, and anywhere in sustained direct sunlight. Humidity attacks the silvering from the edges inward and heat dries and cracks gesso. A stable interior wall, away from an external door, will keep both plate and frame in good order for another century.
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