Posted 4 years ago
Dslilya
(1 item)
Does the fact my grandpa cut off half the drawers on one side of the cabinet for the sewing machine depreciate value much? This is from 1912. Works if new belt is put on. Thanks!
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Hi, Dslilya. :-)
So you have reliable information that your grandfather modified this sewing machine cabinet, huh?
I believe you, because a close examination of your first photograph reveals that the right-hand edge of the cabinet top isn't shaped quite the same as the left-hand edge.
That, and I don't believe I've ever seen that exact style of Singer cabinet before (a drop-head cabinet with four instead of seven drawers and embossing on the drawer fronts).
Valuation isn't done in Collectors Weekly Show & Tell, but I'd say that it's logical to 'assume' (yeah, I know) that the overall value of this Singer sewing machine ensemble is probably less than an unmodified one.
BTW, you have correctly identified the general age of your machine. Perhaps you looked up the serial number (G1847097) in the serial number tables at the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society (ISMACS)?:
*snip*
G- 1827001 1877000 66 50000 January 8 1912
G- 1998101 2048100 66 50000 April 10 1912
*snip*
http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-g-series-serial-numbers.html
If you're wondering why I excerpted two lines of information from the G serial number table, it's because I'm on a one geek campaign to stamp out the idea that the serial number allotment dates represent manufacture dates.
What those dates represent is more or less 'marching orders' from the Singer central office to a particular factory (Singer had many factories world-wide).
In the most pertinent line of information (the first one), it translates to: a block of 50,000 consecutive serial numbers (1827001 through 1877000) was allotted January 8th of 1912, and all those serial numbers were destined to be stamped into the beds of model 66 machines.
It would take the factory some time to work its way through 50,000 serial numbers. How long? One industrious vintage sewing machine enthusiast and expert came up with a tool to estimate the date that a sewing machine with a given serial number rolled off the assembly line:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/excel-2010-sewing-machine-production-date-calculator-8214151
You'd need an account at that forum in order to download it, but you could get similar results using a tool from timeanddate dot com, plus some elbow grease:
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html
However, it's all pretty speculative (as the author of the Excel tool freely admits), and requires one to make certain assumptions, such as the number of days a week the factory employees worked, and whether there were other factors that could affect production such as strikes, equipment break downs, and wars.
British sewing machine expert Alex Askaroff knows of a verifiable case in which a machine with a serial number allotted in 1939 wasn't sold brand new to a customer until 1946 (because of WWII):
https://sewalot.com/dating_singer_sewing_machine_by_serial_number.htm
Anyway, unless you find such calculations fun, it's probably best to go with the most modest assumption, which is that your machine probably rolled off the assembly line before the next block of serial numbers destined to be stamped into the beds of the same model was allotted.
Your pictures support that your machine is indeed a Singer model 66, because it has the distinctive Red Eye decal set, which was only applied to model 66 machines at U.S. Singer factories:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/decals/decal10
I can't see your faceplate and back access panel, but here is a gallery of them for you to browse:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/gallery_faceplates
About the model 66:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/66
Yours has a side-clamping presser foot, but I'm going to give you a link for a soft copy of a manual for the model 66-1 (a treadle-mounted model 66 with a back-clamping presser foot), because that's probably the closest one:
https://archive.org/details/Singer661Manual
Why would a Singer model 66 have a back-clamping presser foot? It was a feature found on Wheeler & Wilson sewing machines, and Singer bought out W&W in the early 20th century:
http://ismacs.net/wheelerandwilson/wheeler-wilson-d9-sewing-machine.html
Your cabinet probably was a Cabinet Table No. 6 (it has the embossed drawer fronts, and the center drawer has two simple lines of beading at the top and bottom):
ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/5-6_cab.html
Your cabinet was probably made at this factory:
https://orangebeanindiana.com/2019/06/12/south-bends-singer-sewing-machine-company/
About the particular sewing machine head factory:
http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer_dating_by_serial_number.html
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/elizabethport
https://www.ericwilliamsblog.com/left-behind-in-elizabeth-the-singer-manufacturing-company-part-1/
https://www.ericwilliamsblog.com/left-behind-in-elizabeth-the-singer-manufacturing-company-part-2/
Believe it or not leather treadle belts are still available from various providers:
https://www.vintagesingerparts.com/collections/leather-belt/products/treadle-sewing-machine-leather-belt-3-16-x-72-grade-a
However, fitting one can be tricky. Here is some expert advice:
https://www.quiltingroomwithmel.com/2017/03/replacing-treadle-sewing-machine-belts.html
As to value, here is some advice from an expert from ISMACS:
http://ismacs.net/sewing_machine_articles/how_much_is_my_sewing_machine_worth.html
I could be forgetting something, so here is a collection of vintage sewing machine links:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/285089-vintage-sewing-machine-help
But if you have more questions, and don't want to sift through all of that, just ask here in a comment. :-)