Wee Reflections: Collecting Miniature Mirrors

I began collecting silver hand mirrors about 12 years ago and enjoy displaying them on the wall in our bedroom and on an antique stool, near a hat stand. They make me smile and they are ‘beautiful on both sides!’

While in an antique shop a few years back, I came across a companion to one of my full-size mirrors.   A miniature, measuring approx. 4-1/2” long and in silver plate with flowers and vines.  The lady at the store called it a purse mirror, for a lady to take along but I have since seen them called ‘doll mirrors.’   It was a charmer and wound up in my bedroom as well.

Over the years I have been able to find more and somehow it has become a separate collection. How does that happen?   I try to confine my search to silver ones, but once in a while another one intrigues me and I make room for it.  This flowered one actually collapses, handle folding into itself.

One of my favorites is this sterling silver one with a ‘hook.’   That was so you could put it on a chain and check out your look whenever you chose to.  It has wonderful flowers and is in great condition.   Now, who could pass this one up, even though their husband was going “do you NEED another one?”   Evidently, I did.

I’ve been lucky enough to find a few advertising mirrors too, probably giveaways to good customers or perhaps employees of fine companies.  There is one from the Manufacturers’ National Bank of Racine, Wisconsin (not too far down the road.) It has a very 3-dimensional depiction of a building and some art nouveau designs too.

Another is quite ornate! It is from the St. Louis Refrigeration and Cold Storage Co. of St. Louis, Missouri.   It is just plain super!

Probably my favorite advertising mirror is this teeny tiny one.   It is only 2-1/8” from top to bottom and was from Union Station, St. Louis.   Amazingly enough, neither of the St. Louis mirrors were found in Missouri.  One was found in Minnesota, the other in Florida!

The shape on this one is a delight. Made in Denmark, it shows an outdoor scene with gents playing music, a barrel for dipping and even a dog on the grass.

You just never know where the collections will start (and certainly not where they will end.)   These are easy to display because of their size and guests and family are always picking them up to read them or see the ‘pretty side’, which is usually the one that shows them off.

These are getting harder to find. I believe the most I have paid for any of them was $18 but a recent trip to a few antique stores found some with price tags in the $30-45 range.  Not my type of range, by the way.  So I recommend that you do not ‘reflect too long’  if this is your type of collection, they will only go up in price!