Bizarre Parking Lot Find Before and After

[Willa]

The factory next door has a large parking lot with several dumpsters for material recycling. They go through a lot of pallets, and there is an area where pallets are put for people to take for firewood or who knows what. This borders my back yard, and is separated by a chainlink fence, that I hung privacy cloth on. There are lots of trees on this boundary including one very old oak tree.

Last Sunday I noticed something unusual that was kind of propped behind the oak tree. It appeared to be a victorian styled mirror ! I stood up on my compost heap for a closer look. It WAS a mirror - and a large one, too. I went over to the parking lot (I have to go around the block to do this vs scrambling over a chain link and barbed wire fence). The mirror was in a hand carved wood frame, that was sloppily painted with hideous sparkly purple paint ! The frame was six feet tall. The mirror was intact except for a small crack in one corner. The overall look of the frame was sort of clumsy victorian. I manouvered the mirror over the chain link fence, where the barbed wire has fallen down. The mirror was as heavy as a solid wood door.

Heavy rain was forecast, so I put the mirror in my back porch. This coincided with the first of the month, so I assumed someone found this mirror (ie put out on moving day) then stashed it to pick it later, since it was so heavy. I checked the lost and found online all week, and nervously waited in the backyard to see if anyone would appear asking about a large purple mirror.

No missing mirror posts, and no upset searching person or persons ever appeared next door.

After a week I felt it was fair game. I sanded the worst of the purple paint off. Some areas revealed very BRIGHT gold leaf, which suggested this was possibly an Indonesian import from the last 30 years or so. The frame was hand carved, but crudely. The overall look of the mirror was sort of 18th c. French - or something.

The purple paint was some kind of sprayed on lacquer, so I used an adhesion primer to bond to this mystery surface. I gave it a couple of coats of BM Advance with some leftover paint and the mirror was much improved.

This neighbourhood is pretty lean on baroque curb treasures, so where this came from, and why it was hiding behind a tree in a factory parking lot will remain a mystery.

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[mjt]

Nice!

[1918ColonialRevival]

The wood on the back of the frame will tell the story of how old it is. Looking at the front, I suspect it's a reproduction made between the 1960s and the 1980s, but it looks like it was a higher quality item.

[Willa]

The wood on the back of the frame will tell the story of how old it is. Looking at the front, I suspect it's a reproduction made between the 1960s and the 1980s, but it looks like it was a higher quality item.

I am not good with wood identification. It is definitely not antique. The clips that hold the wood sheet that holds the mirror have slotted screws, which mean very little. I know how antique wood looks - the ghosts or darkening and discoloration that happens over time. Plus dust and grunge.

Toronto (c. 1998 - 2010) was full of stores selling faux Asian antiques, some with convincing aging/patina. Many antique stores also carried large frames similar to this, some gilded and some raw wood, which I think were made in Indonesia ? I suspect this frame was from that crop of decorator goods.

I recently picked a pair of small, hand carved wood shelf/sconce things. The wood was thick, but crudely carved, and the construction was strange (the top was attached using hinges with slotted screws). They almost looked like naive/ folk-art-y craft - but the finish felt like poly. I paid $ 10.00 for them, and did not hesitate to paint out the brown stain. The mid 90's were full of this type of item, but from Mexico, Thailand and Bali at that point in time ?

The sconce/shelf things:

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[1918ColonialRevival]

I remember a few venues selling the "hand carved" pieces from Mexico and Thailand in the '90s, though in the US, particleboard had taken the country by storm at that point and anything that resembled quality had become an endangered species.

The small wall shelves you shared almost look like they were inspired by Depression era Tramp Art.

[Willa]

The small wall shelves you shared almost look like they were inspired by Depression era Tramp Art.

I know - they are quite strange. Their carving is similar but not 100% identical. The seller was asking $ 5.00 for the pair - but was willing to deliver for an extra $ 5.00. I frowned at their listing photos for quite some time. They looked like they could have been carved by an amateur, back on the farm, anywhere between 1840 - 1940 - and the slotted screws made me hopeful - though the tops being attached by HINGES was just really weird and served no purpose other than that. The seller couldn't tell me anything about where they came from. For $ 10.00 I was willing to take the chance that they were not antique. The finish was definitely poly, and the hinges had also been stained to make them look more old. This was designed to be deceptive, I think, by whoever commissions 2nd or 3rd world artisans to make goods crudely, for the North American market.

I think the mirror frame and the sconce/shelves are cut from the same cloth, so to speak.

[Manalto]

I like it. Mirrors make a room look bigger and reflect light back into it where needed. Good going.

[GinaC]

I like it. Mirrors make a room look bigger and reflect light back into it where needed. Good going.

Absolutely. I bought a big mirror from an antique store that looks like gilt hand carved wood, but it's plastic. This is good because it makes it light and easy to move. It really does look like an antique, and the glass even has beveled edges. I figure it must have been a stage or movie prop at some point.

In any case, I put it above my mantel and it makes the room look twice as big and reflects a lot of light.


Willa, are you going to "distress" it at all with chalk painting techniques, or just leave it "new"?

[Gothichome]

Willa, well you made that mirror presentable, any idea were your going to put it? I to recall those imported sweat shop shelves. Cheap week hinges were only installed so they can be shipped flat. They were sold buy those junky import stores that were popular in the eighties and nineties. If I recall a lot of that imported carved wood would soon dry out and crack within a year or two.

[Willa]

Willa, well you made that mirror presentable, any idea were your going to put it? I to recall those imported sweat shop shelves. Cheap week hinges were only installed so they can be shipped flat. They were sold buy those junky import stores that were popular in the eighties and nineties. If I recall a lot of that imported carved wood would soon dry out and crack within a year or two.

You've solved the hinge mystery ! That makes perfect sense. The sconces were the right size for a pair of small bedside lamps, in my new tiny bedroom. I appreciate their handcarved wonkiness, despite their lack of age.

The mirror has migrated to the living room. It seems to be the proportions of one of those antique mirrors that were placed between tall narrow windows, on a small console type table. It is on a couple of antique flat trunks to elevate it. I often have to move items around to find the right place for them. Since I have a lot of cabinets and bookcases (and doors and windows), I don't have much wall space. So far this location seems to be working ?

Gina - I'm not going to do any distressing to highlight the carving. As I am the restless type, the frame may change color in a few months. This will depend on whether the living room is the actual right place for it to be ?