Object Name:

Hand Mirror

Maker / Manufacturer:

Florence Manufacturing Company, Florence Massachusetts

Material:

Florence Compound

Designer:

Unknown

Description:

Ivory colored frame and handle with molded daisy decoration, beveled glass. The 19th century mirror is made of “Florence Compound,” a shellac-based material developed by Alfred P. Critchlow. The A.P. Critchlow Company, reportedly the world’s oldest plastic molder, made buttons, daguerreotype cases, mirrors and hairbrushes of the early plastic material.  The company later became the Littlefield, Parsons Company, and in 1866, the firm reorganized as the Florence Manufacturing Company. 
 

Dimensions:

9 x 4 3/4 in. (22.9 x 12.1 cm)

Date:

1866-1886

Credit Line:

Gift of a friend of the NPCM

Accession Number:

2005.2