silver mirrors

All About Silver Mirrors

Choosing a mirror that you love the style of is not something to be ashamed of. Many people use mirrors in their home or office to decorate with. They seem to make a smaller space larger when they are placed correctly. You can read all about silver mirrors right here.

Mirrors started out as highly polished brass, gold, or other metal. Eventually, people found a way to make mirrors out of glass with a metallic back acting as the reflective material. Starting towards the end of the 12th century, metallic backing on mirrors became widespread by the 16th century. However, the backing of early mirrors was a mixture of mercury and tin, so it was a dangerous task due to the fumes and mercury poisoning. Because of the risk and time involved in making mirrors during this time period, mirrors were very expensive. Only the rich could afford a mirror, which would equal around $40,000 in today's money.

During the 19th century, a new process was invented for making mirrors, although the origins have been debated. This new method coated the glass with silver instead of the dangerous mercury mixture. This led to the modern techniques used now in which a thin layer of silver or aluminum is sprayed onto the back of the glass. Today, this is done in a vacuum to prevent contaminates from getting into the backing.

The process of silvering the back of the mirror is completed in an assembly line fashion in basically eight steps....

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