Another day… another treasure hunt. This time, it was a gorgeous large antique mirror that stopped me in my tracks.
Antique French Mirror
I have to stop browsing marketplaces. It almost always leads to me saving things and showing my husband something else that we should go pick up. Which, I am okay with. I honestly save a lot more things than I ever asked about or decided to pursue. So, kind of like window shopping right? Just getting ideas and inspiration for decor changes, etc. Unless I find something like this mirror.
Vintage Shopping
It was early in the morning. We were getting ready to load up the car and head to the beach for that family reunion I mentioned recently. I hopped on the computer while sipping coffee and looked at the marketplace just for fun. I almost always decide to see what is available on marketplace in the area we are traveling to – you just never know what you might find. And this morning, one of the first things that popped up in my marketplace feed was an antique French mirror.
Louis XIV Mirror
It was listed as a Louis XIV mirror from 1880. I clicked on it and looked at the measurements and details and messaged the seller to see if it was available. A little bit later- I got a message back that it was. I jokingly asked my husband if he had gotten me anything for Valentine’s Day (which was the next day) and showed him the mirror and he said that was perfect.
We stopped on our way out of town to take a closer look and fell in love with all those gorgeous details. The carved flowers and swags. The gorgeous gilding and of course, the size – it is near the size of the 9′ tall French mirror in our living room as you can see.
Getting it Home
It was a bit of a challenge to get it home- we had to enlist the help from one of our sons to load it into the car and when we got home with it- were not sure we could get it into the house on our own . It is crazy heave and fragile of course. We decided to try to get it onto a dolly – and managed to get it through the pea gravel walkway and up the stairs and into the living room. We slid it off the dolly and it landed here for now- though it will be moving somewhere else soon.
All the details
I took a few photos of the details this morning to share with you- though ignore the real life details of the stacks of wood for the fire on both sides of the fireplace, the straps for some of the trees we are concerned about on the table and me looking very not put together in the reflection.
I love the wreath and swags with the bow- so detailed and pretty!
Tips
Wherever you are shopping- marketplace, Ebay, etc. here are a couple tips for finding and buying antique French mirrors:
- Search words like ‘Antique, Vintage, French, Pier, Full length, gilded, carved, Over mantel’ along with ‘Mirror’
- Be realistic about pricing – Antique French Mirrors that are large especially. They will cost anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars even in places like marketplaces.
- Mottled mirrors are considered usual- and they can be preferential to some folks like me. I love to see the character and age of the mirror so that doesn’t bother me.
- Chips in the paint are considered well loved patina- I don’t mind those either! Missing carvings or other damage would be more of an issue but if that doesn’t bother you- you can use those to your advantage when making an offer.
- Overall- go with your gut and what you love! If it fits your aesthetic, budget and you love the style and how it looks – it might be the piece of resistance that you need!
Stay tuned for where this mirror lands. What do you think of it?
