Antique Mirror Harry J Dean Company Detroit

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Description

Unique & elegant, this rare antique mirror has so many attributes. There are gold gilt tole flowers surrounding the mahogany … Read more Unique & elegant, this rare antique mirror has so many attributes. There are gold gilt tole flowers surrounding the mahogany wood frame. Then there is a beautiful medallion at the top which appears to be reverse glass. I did an image search, and I could not find any other mirror to compare this great piece to.

The small tag on the back intrigued me so I did some detective work. Initially I thought
the Harry J Dean Company might be an auction house because of the lot number. What I found was even more interesting. They were an upscale decorator shop who offered a myriad of services including as you will find in the ads I included just for fun.

The tag indicates the price was 124.00 dollars which in 1923 had the same buying power as 2033 current dollars. The average income in 1924 was just $2,196 annually. So whomever purchased this mirror essentially paid the equivalent of an average worker's yearly salary!

I sell home decor presently but in a previous life, I was an account executive for a New York newspaper (selling ad space.) I was further intrigued with the fact that this company was running large ads (pricey) in their local newspaper on what appears to be a regular basis. The two provided here were the only ones I could find but they tell you a great deal about what this company did all those years ago. They were in business for 80 years according to one of the ads. I researched the address, 1227 Griswold Street, Detroit. There is currently a monument standing on a plaza surrounded by large buildings where the shop once stood.

Measurements: Height 43", Width to outside of flowers 19", Width of frame only in the middle of mirror 15"

Origin is unknown, age is estimated See less