Repairing a mirror?

I have an antique mirror that has a few small places where the silver backing has come off. I have heard of using silver foils and paints to repair small scratches, but I tried a test spot and it did not work. The back of the mirror is stamped and dated by a company that does not exist anymore and I want to preserve the originality of the mirror. Having the mirror resilvered would cause me to lose that original stamp. Is there another way to repair the bad spots or am I out of luck?

 

If you have an antique mirror of any value, any attempts to repair or resilver will affect its value. Resilvering a mirror is not a DIY project.

Resilvering mirrors tends not to be a DIY project. It is very expensive to have mirrors resilvered. A new mirror will typically cost much less than having a mirror resilvered.

"The supplies are expensive. One pint of each of the four chemicals you need totals about $120.00 (plus shipping). The price varies depending on the current price of silver."
http://www.mirrorresilvering.com/#FAQs (Retrieved 05/19/02)

There are companies that specialize in resilvering of mirrors but this is very expensive. Having a new piece of mirror cut for the mirror might be an option if maintaining value is not a consideration. There is no touch up paint for mirrors. It takes at least 4 different chemicals to resilver a mirror, and depending on the price of silver, the price would be cost prohibitive for your size project. Companies that resilver mirrors tend not to sell these products.

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