Caroline's Jewelry with a Past is offering an guilloche enamel Art Deco era pocket or purse mirror in sterling silver, c. 1922. This lavender purple engine turned engraved piece is round ending in a smooth handle. It measures 3-1/8" through the handle and the mirror's framework is 2" in width. The mirror itself is approximately 1-11/16" in diameter. The frame around the mirror and both sides of the handle are secure. The piece has a "diamond" mirror with some hazing, commensurate with age. The mirror weighs 26.2 grams. The mirror was made in Birmingham, England with appropriate hallmarks indicating area of manufacture and sterling content + obscured maker's marks. The date code for this piece is 1922-23. There is minor ruffling around the edges as shown.

A diamond mirror is not really made of diamonds, but is created using silver. Melted silver was poured over the reverse of a piece of glass. Since this early method did not coat evenly, experimentation using various elements was tried. It was learned that mercury added to the silver would help the mixture to spread evenly across the glass. Eventually the mercury evaporated and the silver was left leaving a "diamond dust" like surface.

Ladies small bags were the rage from the turn of the 20th. century. Chatelaines had held sway up until that time. To offset the loss of the useful tools of the chatelaine, miniature mirrors, fans, coin purses and compacts were added to ladies bags.