RESCUED/RESTORED antique beveled glass mirror in quartersawn oak frame

This "project" has been a very long time to completion...I gotta say I think I'm pretty dam*ed happy/proud of how it turned out, and hope y'all agree?!! :-) [though I'm not certain I'm happy with these pics...I might have to try again/add more?]

EDIT: I have added four more pics (and a little more detail) in a 'part 2' posting here:

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/244067-rescued-restored-antique-beveled-glass-m?in=activity

Here's the backstory, I'll try to be as short as possible. ;-) I recovered (the pieces of) this mirror from the remains of a long abandoned farmhouse, roughly 30yrs ago. It was the top of a (craftsman style?) dresser which had been left in a 2nd floor bedroom -- by the time I got there, the roof had been completely gone for so many years that half of the 2nd floor (including said dresser, plus) had already fallen in to ground level. It must have fallen/settled reasonably gently however, since it laid there halfway backwards among the rest of the detrius still appearing kinda intact including the glass. First looks were slightly deceiving...it turns out most of the 'case' of the dresser was actually rotted away to nothingness, what parts of that 'looked' intact sorta disintegrated into bug-eaten bits upon first touch. :-( BUTBUT -- for some reason or other, not only was the glass of the mirror unbroken -- but ALL of its frame parts (except its back) were both still there and *not* rotten. Don't get me wrong -- it, as the rest of the dresser, mostly fell to pieces at first touch -- but unlike the rest of it, the pieces were still intact parts even if completely devoid of their original finish, all the glue, and most of the steel nails that had held them together. At the time, I recovered the glass and frame parts, plus the 'arms' with little shelves that used to hold/flank the mirror itself.

FFWD to recently, when upon needing to move the pieces to new storage (again) I finally decided that I'd better try to put the thing back together before otherwise losing parts, inadvertently busting the mirror, or something else bad. And that's what y'all are looking at here, now. :-)

The most complicated part of reassembly was the curved top piece with its fancy decoration, which consists of four little individually carved pieces attached to the front of the flat surface behind them. The backing piece has a tongue and groove joint running horizontally right thru its middle which like the rest of the whole thing had come completely unglued...thus those tiny little decoration pieces needed to be (oh, so carefully!) also removed/cleaned individually before being reattached (on the rusted remains of their original tiny brad nails) to their original positions. Beyond that, it was mostly just a matter of reassembling and regluing the 4 frame sides and lightly sanding smooth to remove any remaining vestiges of old finish, then applying new stain (dark, like the original) and multiple coats of linseed oil. The majority of its back was replaced with a single piece of thin plywood, though the original curved top piece still survives. Several tiny (vintage) wood screws were also added to the backside to reinforce the actual mirror-holding parts of the frame.

The 3rd pic shows the markings stamped on the backside of the (heavy!) beveled glass mirror, including the date "MAR 15, 1905" and logo for the "DURAND PROCESS" of mirror silvering. (which must have been a pretty good one, as the silvering is still in amazingly good shape?!) The 4th pic, for reference, is the still un-restored bracket arm parts which used to hold the mirror -- the frame parts were in exactly the same condition. <eeek!!> It measures about 46" high by 21" wide -- now ready for another hundred+ years?!!

:-) :-) :-)