Posted 3 years ago
Blueearth
(1 item)
Trying to figure out if this is an antique or just trash. Found in an old house we purchased. Any help would be appreciated
Abendschule sewing machine | ||
| Sewing167 of 2598 |  |  |
Abendschule sewing machine | ||
| Sewing167 of 2598 | | |
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Posted 3 years ago
Blueearth
(1 item)
Trying to figure out if this is an antique or just trash. Found in an old house we purchased. Any help would be appreciated
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Hi, Blueearth. :-)
Cool. I'd say either antique or at least vintage (in general, sewing machines need to have been made prior to 1900 to be considered antique).
What initially caught my eye (besides the German name on the arm) was that circular inspection plate at the shoulder (the junction of the arm and pillar).
It made me think it might be a badged National sewing machine. A look at the National badge name index at needlebar dot org turns up a near twin:
*snip*
Abenschule
*snip*
http://needlebar.org/main/makers/usa/national/index.html
I'm going to consider that a slip of the finger on the part of the needlebar folks. It's very likely should be "Abendschule," German for Evening School.
For whom might the National Sewing Machine Company have badged this machine? This is total speculation on my part, but possibly this journal:
*snip*
Die Abendschule was a German language biweekly family journal published first in Buffalo and then in St. Louis between 1854 and 1940.
*snip*
https://www.biblio.com/book/subscription-blank-die-abentschule-publishers-advertisement/d/684660257
On to the model. Your machine looks to me like it has:
A circular needle plate & dual slide plates
A boat shuttle
A shoulder inspection plate
A top leaf tension
A pillar screw stitch length mechanism
A rounded body
A rectangular bed with rounded corners
I can't quite tell from your pictures whether your machine is full or three quarters sized.
Neither can I tell whether your machine is mounted in a treadle cabinet (could you pretty please add a picture of the full front of your machine including the cabinet?).
It looks to me like one of National's VB-TT models (vibrating shuttle sewing machines), possibly a VB-TT Type 4 or VB-TT Type 5. If it's three quarters size, then possibly a Paveway (scroll down):
http://needlebar.org/nbwiki/index.php/National_Vibrating_Shuttle_Machines
How old it it? Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive database of National sewing machine serial numbers. I don't see one on the chassis where it would normally be covered by the front slide plate, e.g.:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/301606-vintage-sewing-machine-serial-number-loc
It might be under the machine bed.
Usually the best one can do is compare one's machine to other National sewing machines that have been dated by other means, e.g., retire engineer and modern day techno-Renaissance man Wayne Schmidt's Willamette D (scroll down):
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/Antique%20Sewing%20Machines.html
About the National Sewing Machine Company:
https://ismacs.net/national/from_eldredge_to_national_to_janome.html
In case I've forgotten anything, here is my collection of vintage sewing machine links:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/285089-vintage-sewing-machine-help
However, it's a lot to sift through, so if you have specific questions, just ask them here in a comment. If I don't know the answers, I'll go back out into the wilds of the Internet and try to find them. };-)
Whoops, I tend to forget this: in case you're wondering why some of your pictures are sideways, it's likely because the Collectors Weekly Show & Tell software doesn't play nicely with all photograph sources, especially some smart phones and tablets.
Unfortunately, there is currently no built-in tool to reorient posted pictures.
A workaround it to edit copies of your pictures on your local device, trim the long sides of the rectangular images just a skosh, then edit your post and replace the poorly oriented images with the edited copies. That usually does the trick.
Wow keramikos, you come loaded for bear! Nice!! :)
Bruce99, Thanks, but I'm mostly just an old Internet surfer standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak. :-)
That Die Abendschule journal attribution for the badge name is total speculation on my part, so I decided to look into it further.
The worldcat dot org description says that it had a "supplement for women," which sounds promising:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/abendschule-ein-deutsches-familienblatt/oclc/811051965
Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine has a copy of an issue, but it's pre-1900, so I think that's too old for this sewing machine, which I suspect is post-1900 vintage.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has issues from 1916-1919:
https://mki.wisc.edu/library-archive/scanned-images-from-the-mki-archives/die-abendschule/
The back of the various issues do have ads for various products. I took at look at the second part of the 9 November 1916 issue, but no joy and I'm running out of time at the moment.
The answer is out there somewhere. };-)
Blueearth, Here is a badged National VB-TT Type 5 that has the same decals as yours (although a different decoration on the shoulder inspection plate):
https://ncweekendquilter.blogspot.com/p/treadle.html
That industrious blogger found pictures of that model in Eaton's catalog at archive dot org (AKA Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine ).
It's the one at the top left hand side of Page 199 (Page 202 of archive dot org) of the 1905 Eaton catalog called the Number 3 Eatonia:
https://archive.org/details/eatons190500eatouoft/page/n202/mode/1up
It doesn't have your decals (those look like the decals in the image at needlebar dot org).
The machine described as a "Seamstress Special" on Page 215 (Page 240 at archive dot org) in the Spring 1913 Eaton catalog looks like a National VB-TT Type 5):
https://archive.org/details/eatons191300eatouoft/page/n240/mode/1up
Hi again, Blueearth.
I think I've taken this about as far as I can, but I just want to make a couple of corrections and further observations.
First of all, forget what I said about your machine possibly being a National VB-TT Type 4. The Type 4 didn't have a stitch length mechanism on the pillar.
I also doubt that your machine could be a Paveway, because those three quarters size machines were typically mounted either in a metal platform base or a portable wooden base.
I do think your machine is a National VB-TT Type 5.
I also took another look at your pictures, and there is indeed a serial number on the machine bed underneath where the front slide plate would be installed. It's difficult to read, but it looks like it might be "2886516."
If that's the case, then it would be newer than Wayne Schmidt's Willamette D badged National VB-TT Type 5 which he estimates to be of circa 1914 vintage.
Here is a badged National VB-TT Type 5 with a serial number of 2,452,xxx that has the same decals and decoration on its inspection plate as yours. I don't know what kind of cabinet yours is in, but theirs is in a beautiful parlor-style cabinet:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/35557704@N04/14280521617
Here is a Sears Home Queen that described as a National Vindex B, but it looks like a National VB-TT Type 5 to me (scroll down):
https://ismacs.net/sears/sears.html
Finally, as to the badge name Abendschule: I looked at more than a few issues of Die Abendschule, but no joy on a Abendschule badged National sewing machine. In fact, no joy on a sewing machine of any description. :-(
I didn't look at every issue the University of Wisconsin-Madison had, so if you want to look at all of them, be my guest.
That's about it, unless you have questions. :-)