Thread: My great grandfather's shaving mirror

Here are a couple of pics of my great grandfather's shaving mirror. It is made from a casket lid and the antlers of a deer killed locally. As near as I can tell it was made in the 1880's or 1890's. He kept it on the bac porch and would fill a bowel with water to shave with. He kept his razor in the tray and hung a towel on the antlers. I'm waiting to get his razor restored. Its a Finney Tally Ho wedge that looks more like a meat cleaver that a shaving implement, but from the stories I've heard he probally would have shaved with a cleaver too.

Nomad, that's afully dang cool. Ancestor's gear like that is just not possible to replace. 'Hope you just love having and using it.

Gramps had refined tastes. Back then a custom shape mirror was a luxury item to be sure.
Its many kinds of awesome!

That's just way too cool an heirloom. I'm a bit envious. Treasure it!

Cool mirror.Its nice to hear your carrying on a legacy.

Cool to have such a heirloom! But, and I put myself at risk here, I can see why great grandma made him keep it on the porch and not in the house :-)

Very cool, but it has me wondering. If its made from a casket lid, what happened to the rest of the casket? And, in addition, were there contents in the casket at any time?

Thanks for all the nice comments. I'm not sure where he got the casket lid, but I figure there was some horse trading involved somewhere. I imagine his wife was like alot of them now, you ain't hanging that "thing" in my house, but then again anyone tuff enough to shave on the back porch year round probally wanted it there to begin with..lol.

That's really neat. I wish I knew how my grandfathers shaved and I had their equipment. I want to say that one of them had a Gem SE razor in the bathroom when I visited him but I could be wrong. I don't get that weepy, nostalgic feeling when I see the electric razor my dad used. Once while I was living at home in college my mom said his electric conked out and he had to use my multiblade. She said he was cutting himself right and left and cussing during the whole experience. If he were still around he would probably be real upset if he knew I use a straight razor.

That's a neat shaving mirror, and it's great you are going to put it to good use.

Originally Posted by Magpie

Gramps had refined tastes. Back then a custom shape mirror was a luxury item to be sure.
Its manly kinds of awesome!

^^^FTFY^^^

That is very cool, gives me a few ideas to boot.
Thanks for sharing it with us.