Car boot sale glass

[DAVE SMITH]

I Went to a car boot sale on Sunday with the family . My wife spotted these Chemist items for sale, I think the jar is Victorian but i'm not sure and same for the puntie mirror very precise puntie cutting ,glass is 3/8s thick .Any ideas on age anyone? Paid £3.00 for the two items ,Nice little find .....
Dave

[Patrick Mackle]

About the mirror. It looks like it may have originally been a "plateau". Mirrored plateaus were usually wheel cut and some were acid embossed. They can range from simple poor quality to quite elaborate. They also may have open filigreed metal bezels with simple ball or ornate cast or stamped feet on the under side. Some simply have plywood backing covered in green felt. Plateaus were fashionable for displaying things, they were mostly used by women on their make up stands to display their perfumes. When you find plateaus, they generally have a profuse amount of short multidirectional scratches from the cut glass styled perfume bottles sliding around.
Nearly 100% of the time I find a plateau in an antique store or show, the attached price tag says "NOT FOR SALE".
Another thing about your mirror. Since the punty cuts appear deep and quite uniform in placement and diameter, it might very well be that the glass was set up in a rotational wooden fixture to position it against the wheel and cut the punties in exact degrees instead of being free handed.

[DAVE SMITH]

You got all that right Pat. On the back is three stamped feet which are a bit rusty,the front also scratches to the face. It seems at one time they may have also used it has a mirror for looking in as there is a metal loop for hanging chain on.
Thanks Pat
Dave

[James Warwick]

Dave
I have seen a mirror like yours (all silver) a couple of times with advertising etched in the center. You didn't give the size so I'm not sure. I can't remember the product, maybe tobacco related. Maybe somebody can fill in the blanks.

[DAVE SMITH]

James the size of the mirror is 9'' Interesting that you have seen these also. It turns out after talking with Stuart Norton he has told me that the aprrentices would have made these mirrors. He said in Victorian times it was a conveyer belt for this type of work.The art department would paint the circles on the glass exactly and then the apprentices would cut the punties,this was known as a (fill in job) for the learner of wheel cutting, after this process it would finally carry on to be polished and silvered. Interesting also that he said they were used for Elaborate candle bases to show off more light and generally make the room attractive, he reffered to them as 'show rooms' He said the mirrors were known as Table Centres. It looks like the States were using them differently like Pat has said.
Thanks
Dave

[Tony Segale]

very nice finds.
could find good use with a jar like that.

will have to keep an eye out for the next car boot sale in these parts.
mad, crazy english soldiers.

[Doug Bernhardt]

Dave, Great find and in a country as old as yours I'm sure there many many more to be had. But....."It seems at one time they may have also used it has a mirror for looking in as there is a metal loop for hanging chain on". Now I can imagine how strange I would look in all those punty cuts, But YOU!!