Resilvering an old mirror

[PinkCamelias]

I have two pairs of double doors with mirrored, bevelled panes, like on this photo (not my door). The mirror is almost all gone though, it is either black, or you can see the paint on the other side of the panes. I wonder if anyone had an old mirror resilvered? Is it very expensive? I am afraid it would be, especially as it's several of these small panes. If I don't do that, I will either leave it as it is, or maybe replace the panes with new mirror (but then it won't be bevelled).

AFAIK it doesn't tend to be that expensive. I have some silver plate that I am thinking of doing and I was surprised at how low the cost was when I googled it. Mind you saying that "expensive" is a very relative term.

I would just email someone who specialists in that, take photos and ask them for a quote.

Thanks a lot @GasPanic! Is resilvering a plate the same technique?

I said expensive because that’s what I’ve read so far while googling it, but with no figures mentioned to get an idea. Indeed, I’ll look for specialists and email them, with photos, and ask.

It might be cheaper to have new mirror cut and just replace the mirrored bits. It is a relatively easy DIY job but does take a while if there are that many panels. A local glass supplier should be able to cut you some mirror to size.

Obviously you would lose the bevel although they might be able to redo it but I am guessing that would be more expensive than resilvering them.

Well it's the same sort of stuff, covering something in a thin layer of metal.

I think you would be talking thousands rather than hundreds for doing that job which would be 80 individual panes? Probably more to do with the fact that you would be handling lots of individual bits. But 1K would still only be £10 per pane.

But I'm not the one offering to do the job - I am sure they would be happy to quote you on it and they may be willing to offer you lower prices on a long delivery time.

I suppose for it it would depend on how well I could restore the rest of the door in order to make it look good.

Yes, that's how it was done in our previous house (rented) - there was a whole wall of mirrored doors, and they had new mirrored panes inserted, with no bevel (unless it was original, but I doubt that because there was no spot to be seen anywhere). I would not like to lose the bevel, because the windows and non mirrored doors have it, but I accept that I may need to choose.

@GasPanic Ok, many thanks, that gives me an indication.
The rest of the doors is in perfect condition, one could be repainted from inside because they are red (outside is white). I guess the previous owner did not want to due the renovation due to cost, or did not mind the antique look (some people told me they would leave it as it is; I don't mind a patina at all myself, but here were are talking about literally unusable mirrors, which of course can also be accepted).