Old Singer Machines…History
The old Singer machines, the oldest in particular, saw light back in 1851. Issac Merritt Singer, the originator of the Singer sewing machine, actually just made major improvements to an earlier sewing machine, the Lerow and Blodgett machine. He altered the existing machine by making the shuttle move to and fro in a straight line instead of having it going around in a circle, and having a straight needle working up and down instead of the original’s needle bar pushing a curved needle horizontally. And while all other machines of this type utilized a hand crank to generate power, he used a treadle which is similar to a spinning wheel. If you want to know more about its history, click on old singer machines: history.
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Vintage Singer Machine Serial Numbers
The Singer company have probably lost most of their oldest records as they can only provide a list of serial numbers of antique singer sewing machines manufactured after 1870. They however say that while newer singer machines have single or double letter prefixed serial numbers, vintage singer machines released prior to 1900 have all numbers only. Thus, you can check out how old your singer machines are by checking out its serial number and searching it against these tables: All Numbers, One Letter Prefix, Two Letter Prefix.
Old Singer Machine Value
According to one website I chanced upon sometime ago, the ‘blue book value’ on old singer machines is normally around $25.00. But if you do have a really old one, we don’t talk about book values anymore. These types of antique singer sewing machine or vintage singer machines are bound for the auction block and may fetch something we cannot yet foresee especially if true collectors who fancy these equipments are around.
Antique Singer Sewing Machines Manual
Here’s a series of scanned files from an antique singer sewing machine manual dated 1901. I bet any true blue collector would pay for these manuals as much as the old single machine itself.
Singer Featherweight Sewing Machines
There’s something about the singer featherweight sewing machine that made it earn the name ‘the perfect portable’. These have become very popular among fabric artisans and quilters with the singer featherweight model 221 and 222 being specifically choosen by collectors. Below is a picture of a 1948 Black Singer Featherweight 221.
