Posted 9 years ago
liketoknow
(1 item)
Hello there, i have this very old and rare Singer machine which i cannot trace on the internet. Does anyone know perhaps the name and origin of this item?
Thanks a lot!
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that is a nice , ornate sewing machine and it looks heavy.
If you can find the serial number I can look it up.
i'm pretty sure this machine isn't a Singer. Its a pawfoot most likely German Saxonia that's been refurbished with some Singer decals.
My guess it is a German singer with La Vencedora decals the bad part all records were lost during WW2
Hi, I am researching unknown models from Singer and other manufacturers, and I would like to have contact with the owner of this machine. I know this is an old entry, but if someone read this and know the owner, please make a comment.
Hi, Olaf :-)
I hope I'm wrong, but CW S&T user liketoknow seems to have been a one-post, zero comment user some eight years ago, and as such isn't likely to respond. :-(
It certainly is an interesting VSM, with that combination of an apparent vibrating shuttle sewing machine head, a 'pawfoot' platform, and Singer decals.
I suspect that the late great Bernadette was probably right about it.
Google Lens turned up a very similar VSM described as a badged Davis:
*snip*
The NY Favorite lockstitch Antique handcrank sewing machine.
Manufactured by Davis Sewing Machine Company of Watertown for Solomon Davis & Co, Borough, London around 1890.
*snip*
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1621965667/the-ny-favorite-lockstitch-antique-hand
The casting of the 'pawfoot' looks identical, and that mysterious doodad on the pillar turns out to be a support for a bobbin winder, which makes perfect sense.
If this is a Davis vibrating shuttle, it's an interesting one with that circular needle plate.
If you're the same Olaf who's a regular at the victoriansweatshop forum, you're probably far better equipped than I am to ID this mystery machine.
Good luck. :-)
Hi again, Olaf. :-)
FYI, I tried finding those patents seen on the front slide plate of the near twin VSM on etsy at Enrico's fiddlebase website, but no joy, e.g.:
https://www.fiddlebase.com/american-machines/davis-sewing-machine-co/davis-patents/
https://www.fiddlebase.com/american-machines/davis-sewing-machine-co/davis-mysteries/
So, I've reached out to the esty vendor. I'll add any useful information they provide to me here in another comment.
Hi again, Olaf.
I got a response from the etsy vendor:
*snip*
This machine was not manuctured by singer but what happened to the listing you refered to is that someone repainted the machine singer decals. You may take it as singer if you want but its not
Previous owner had an instruction manual for this machine and shared this information with us.
*snip*
I responded:
*snip*
Thanks for replying. Yes, it isn't a Singer, although it's rather similar to the Singer model 39.
I was just puzzled by the information that it was a badged Davis, because I couldn't find another Davis like it.
As it happens, Olaf at the vintage sewing machine forum victoriansweatshop is on the trail of this, and if anybody can figure out who designed and manufactured it, Olaf and rest of the VSS crew can. :-)
*snip*
In the interim, I had discovered the victoriansweatshop threads/posts about your own mystery VSM and your Singer model 39:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/todays-sewing-machine-adventure-7896128?&trail=25100
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336526918&postcount=25071&forum=501752
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336075234&postcount=23775&forum=501752
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336537429&postcount=25102&forum=501752
Plus, I see that you and Alwen have been able to decipher all the inscribed patent information on the front slide plate:
*snip*
Oct. 8th 1878
July 6th 1880
Sept 22nd 1885
July 19th 1887
*snip*
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336527649&postcount=25075&forum=501752
So, in short: carry on. :-)
Hi yet again, Olaf. :-)
I believe I've found that Russian museum link:
https://museum-lesnoy.ru/simfoniya-dlya-mehanicheskoj-igly/
It cites a Live Journal blog as the image source:
https://mastirina.livejournal.com/10596.html
Oh well, let's enter into the record that this machine, sans the Singer decals, might be a 1910 Davis:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336536743&postcount=25100&forum=501752
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336537429&postcount=25102&forum=501752
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1336530611&postcount=25087&forum=501752
great old sewing machine. Thanks for posting.
Hi keramikos, sorry for not taking the time to comment here. The machine is a mystery. I would really have liked to get a copy of the instruction manual from the previous owner of the Etsy machine! Great that you found the russian link. Please contact me with your email adress via a PM in victoriansweatshop.
BTW, the machine identification on many of the machines on the russian site are incorrect! The 1910 Singer is a Hengstenberg, the 'American sewing machine shuttle stitch' is a Clemens Müeller, the Hengstenberg is maybe a Davis, the 1906 Singer is a german machine - it even say so on the logo, probably a Seidel & Naumann.
There is no Singer name on the Etsy machine.
Hey, Olaf. :-)
No problem at all about you not taking time to comment until now.
You're welcome about the Russian museum site link; I'm only sorry that it seems to be a source of a lot of misinformation.
Yes, it sure would have been interesting to see the manual that came with the Etsy machine, although there would have been a risk that it wasn't for that actual machine.
We've seen that here: somebody comes into possession of a VSM, and there's a manual in a drawer of the cabinet, but it's not for that make/model of VSM. People have a tendency to throw all kinds of stuff into sewing machine cabinet drawers over the years.
No, the Etsy machine didn't have Singer decals; it has the elusive 'The NY Favorite" badge name on it.
I can't PM you at the victoriansweatshop forum, because I don't have an account there; however, my email address is in my profile here (you have to click on "Read more" to see it):
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/user/keramikos
Keramikos, I contacted the seller on Etsy, and he told me that the previous owner had lost the manual for the machine. I have asked for the source for info in his ad. BTW, it's free to register in the VSS forum. The N.Y.Favorite's incorrect name New Favorite was used in the eighties. I have not cleaned my machine yet, so I don't know what is found under the old dirt! I can see that there are some decals left, but it would be interesting to find letters.
Olaf, Whoops, I somehow managed to miss this latest comment. Danged real world and its demands on my time. };-)
Yes, I also asked the Etsy vendor about the manual, and they told me that the previous owner had lost it. It sure would be nice to know more.
It's tantalizing to think about what information might be underneath the grime on your mystery machine.
Yes, I realize it's free to register at the VSS forum. I've been tempted on occasion to do so, but have resisted thus far, because I've felt that I have nothing to offer the existing VSS members.
I own exactly one sewing machine. I bought it new, and I suppose it's considered vintage simply by virtue of it being over forty years old now. };-)
One hundred percent of everything I know about real VSMs I've learned online since I joined Collectors Weekly Show & Tell.
It did start with the vintage Singers. I was fascinated to discover that one could learn so much about any one particular vintage Singer sewing machine head simply by looking up its serial number.
From there I ventured into the realm of the much less well documented non-Singer VSMs.
Until recently, I felt that I served a purpose here at CW S&T by acting as a conductor of sorts for novice VSM owners who needed help; however, things have been pretty quiet of late on that front.
I suppose I could join the VSS forum in the hopes that I could somehow pay back the existing members for all I've learned from them through reading their posts and the commentary thereon.
For those of you who wonder if this is a Singer, so do we! It is said to be a Davis, but we simply don't know what it is, no info can be found. The Singer logo on this machine is most likely added later.