Adventures in Antiquing! Vintage "piecrust" mirrors

Ever since I saw this Martha Stewart Living cover, I've been addicted to these beautiful mirrors:

I, at least, have run across very few of them in my travels, so when I do, I usually snatch them up right away. I've never paid more than $25, and have found two in antique shops in Ohio and one in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I would love to find more unusual shapes like rounds and ovals, but in the meantime, will take what I can get!

The two I have are more like the rectangular shaped one at top right, with the square bottom and rounded top, and just recently, found a lovely round one at one of my favorite Ohio antique stores.

I hung this beauty up in my basement craft area until I was ready to use it, thinking it would be out of the way from the kids. But then I thought, I should probably move that somewhere else in case it breaks.

Really, I should probably listen to my intuition, because a few days later it inexplicably fell from the nail it was hung on and is now in three giant shards (perhaps a testament to thick, vintage glass?). The rope-like material it was hung from just pulled apart from age, I guess. Note to self and perhaps a tip: always inspect hardware on vintage art and mirrors, especially heavier pieces! and restring with brand new, heavy-duty wire. *sigh*

I decided to stop in one antique shop I usually avoid (because they have lots of signs saying "NO this!" and "STOP that!" kind of stuff, which can really kill the atmosphere. LOL Case in point:

"We're NOT buying or appraising your items. PLEASE
remove your vehicle to shop elsewhere." Whaaaat??

With a bit of in trepidation I went in, and quickly found a wonderful gem hidden under a bunch of ugly dishes. I think I've seen it in there before, but just never paid much attention. This time, I noticed it had two holes for hanging …. double bonus!

A bargain at $18! 

The shop owner was pleasant enough (despite her signs, and the fact that I accidentally dumped all of her business cards all over the floor. She thanked me for picking them up). I wonder how long this thing sat there before I bought it - years, maybe?

The best part is that I can use the hardware from the broken mirror to hang the new one!

Then yesterday I found this - an even better bargain at $6! (marked down from $10) A totally crummy picture, but you get the idea. The best part was the stamp on the back, that had the manufacturer (still haven't been able to make out who it is) and the date: February 28, 1951. Cool!