Hi, I don’t realy want to sell the mirror I am more after an idea of how high I need to keep it out of little hands reach. I have always loved this mirror and my mother said her mother has had it for as long as she can remember. It is some what flatted were it would have contact with a flat surface as it has been well used. The glass is unbroken or scrached.
From the markings I think it’s Birmingham, England 1808? As the first mark is Brimingham, England city mark, second is silver standard mark A and third is Birmingham date letter 1808. I did my best with what I could find on the internet.
I am in the slowy prosses of cleaning it at the moment.
I am highly suspicious of a date of 1808 for this item. From what it is and its style I would expect a much later date, probably 20th century. In addition you don’t mention the presence of a duty mark (monarch’s head) which I would have expected for 1808 (and right up to 1890). Assuming that the date letter is a “k” this may also indicate 1884 or 1909.
I am confused about where the A comes in as the silver standard mark is a lion passant. We really must see a picture of the marks in order to tell you which date it is - or even if it is in fact Birmingham.
Thankyou, I think your right, 1909 does sound more like it. The 'k’s looks very much alike to me. At one of the sites about marks they refered to the lion passant as A. The reason I thought it from Birmingham is the boat ancor, unless this wrong too. If it was from Birmingham what would this mean?
I am unable to get a clear photo of the marks, they are too small form my camera.
The Birmingham town mark is an anchor. However Birmingham does not have exclusive rights to the anchor. In particular the Gorham Corporation in America also used not only an anchor but also a lion passant in its trade mark and that can cause confusion. However as you are in Australia it is more likely that the mirror came from the UK rather than from the USA, so I would be reasonably happy to go along with Birmingham, 1909.
A trick which sometimes works with photographing hallmarks is to photograph them through a magnifying glass - although you might find that you need 3 hands to make it work properly!
