who invented the mirror?....and when?

Answer 1

The history of mirrors dates back to ancient times when mankind first saw reflections in a pond or river and considered it magic. Long befor man was able to make mirrors out of glass, mirrors made of metal were used. Sheets of metal, mostley copper, was flattend and polished until it could be used as a mirror.

The mirror of the ancient Greeks and Romans was a disk of metal with a highly polished face, sometimes with a design on the back, and usually with a handle.

That mirrors were used in ancient times, can also be found in the bible:

Exodus 38:8
"And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation."

Answer 2

The definition of a mirror is a reflecting surface.
The history of mirrors dates back to ancient times when mankind first saw reflections in a pond or river and considered it magic. Polished stone or metal was used in the first early man-made mirrors. Later glass was used in combination with metals like tin, mercury, and lead to create mirrors.
Today, combining glass and metal is still the design used in almost all modern mirrors. Mirrors made by coating flat glass with silver or gold foil dates from Roman times and the inventor is unknown.

Answer 3

Here is what I found:

"A method of backing a plate of flat glass with a thin sheet of reflecting metal came into widespread production in Venice during the 16th century; an amalgam of tin and mercury was the metal used. The chemical process of coating a glass surface with metallic silver was discovered by Justus von Liebig in 1835, and this advance inaugurated the modern techniques of mirror making. Present-day mirrors are made by sputtering a thin layer of molten aluminum or silver onto the back of a plate of glass in a vacuum."
http://www.mirrorresilvering.com/a_brief_history_of_mirrors.htm

"The mirror of the ancient Greeks and Romans was a disk of metal with a highly polished face, sometimes with a design on the back, and usually with a handle. Glass mirrors date from the Middle Ages. They were made in large quantities in Venice from the 16th cent., the back being covered with a thin coating of tin mixed with mercury; after 1840 a thin coating of silver was generally substituted. The introduction of plate glass for mirrors (17th cent.) stimulated the use of large stationary mirrors as part of household furniture."
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0859670.html

Answer 4

The use of reflective surfaces as mirrors probably began centuries ago and it probably happened in many places. Therefore, it's difficult to find a single inventor.

I believe mirrors became common household fixtures during the Victorian era.