A chronicle of events of mirrors from stone age man through to modern society.
Mirrors have been around for an abundance of years, ever since stone age man first stopped to make sure his hair was still in position in a puddle of rainwater. Well, maybe not, be that as it may it is true that the original mirrors were simply pools or bowls of still water that can be used to wonder at ones likeness in. You can almost visualize the amusement of said caveman as he looked upon themselves for the first time, a strong interest that remains with the human race to this day. The first mirror ever found dates back to 6000 BC and was formed from glossy obsidian stone, a form of black glass formed in volcanic regions. Other early forms of mirrors include glossy copper, gleaming rock and gleaming bronze as well as a bunch of varied alloys, all polished to a smooth and glossy surface and there are even suggestions that expensive metals were highly glossy and used as mirrors by the more comfortable members of civilization.
Nevertheless it wasn’t untill the most recent 200 years or so that glass mirrors where coated with a metal reflective surface began to bear fruit, with suggestions that the Romans may have been the first to put to use lead reinforced glass mirrors and on occasion, gold leaf strengthened mirrors for the upscale. Around 500AD the Chinese begun to generate mirrors on a larger scale thanks to their method of backing their glass with a silver-mercury compound that gave a notable increase in the superiority of reflection. Be that as it may it wasn’t until rather just a while ago in the 16th century such mirrors begun to become more affordable to the common people, thanks to the exposure of a tin-mercury composite that was cost less to produce and gave a high superiority mirror image. Venice is widely credited with the exposure of this alloy, after all the specific position and time is somewhat unknown, and the mirrors produced in Venice where hugely high-priced taking into account their materials.
In modern times, most notably the 19th century, silvered glass has become the standard for mirrors thanks to a know-how refined by a German chemist. His technique allows a thin layer of silver nitrate to be applied to the back of a glass panel, this silver nitrate when exposed to chemicals transforms to leave a wispy highly reflective coating of silver on the rear of the glass. This capability soon became the benchmark in mirror construction and allowed mirrors to be mass-produced for the first time in history, significantly lowering the face value and making them affordable to the mass public. In modern years, silver nitrate has been replaced by aluminium for price reasons, after all the method remains the same.
these mirrors are seen as an common part of life and are more commonplace than they have ever been in history. Coming in an assortment of shapes and sizes and with a weird and wonderful selection of frames and stands for free standing mirrors. So there you have it, if it wasn’t for caveman’s self-admiration many thousands of years ago we may not ever have had the opportunity to observe upon our likenesss in a mirror!
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