Posted 2 years ago
Singerscott
(1 item)
Trying to see if this a rare machine. I’ll take better pictures but Zoom in and the decals are of a syphnx and I haven’t seen this design before. Machine is from 1884
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Hi, Singerscott. :-)
I'm not sure what caused you to think that this machine is of 1884 vintage, but it's not true.
Perhaps you found a patent number with that year somewhere on the sewing machine head or the cabinet?
Anyway, serial number G1654164 was one of a block of 32,000 consecutive G prefix serial numbers ([G]1641651 through [G]1673650) that was allotted by the central office to two of its factories.
All were intended to be stamped into the beds of model 27 sewing machines. Yours probably rolled off of the assembly line some time between the allotment date of its block (December 20 1911) and that of the next block of G prefix serial numbers intended for model 27 machines at those two factories:
*snip*
G- 1641651 1673650 27 32000 December 20 1911 St. Johns
G- 2584401 2609400 27 25000 January 6 1913 St. Johns
*snip*
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-g-series-serial-numbers.html
All Singer sewing machines with G prefix serial numbers were cast at the Elizabethport factory. The ones associated with the serial number blocks with "St. Johns" in the comments columns were assembled at the St. Johns factory.
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer_dating_by_serial_number.html
That your machine is a model 27 checks out visually. It has all of the hallmarks of a Singer vibrating shuttle sewing machine (trapezoidal access door, circular needle plate and dual slide plates), plus it has the low-mounted bobbin winder characteristic of both the model 27 and model 28.
The only real difference between a model 27 and 28 is size, the latter being a three-quarters size version of the former:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Singer.Model27.IdentificationGuide.jpg
About Singer's family of vibrating shuttle machines:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/28
Singer model 27 machines aren't rare. It was a popular model, and in the twentieth century alone, Singer made almost five million of them. That's not counting the nineteeth century ones.
Here is a user manual for the model 27:
https://archive.org/details/singer-27-user-manual-en
Yes, the decal set on your machine is known as "Sphinx":
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/decals/decal12
I can't see the face plate or rear access panel, but here is a gallery of them for you to browse:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/gallery_faceplates
Your cabinet is Cabinet Table No. 2 (Plain with Five Drawers):
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/cabinet_table_no_2-3.html
About the Elizabethport factory (where all G serial number sewing machine heads were cast):
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/elizabethport
About Singer's South Bend cabinet factory:
https://orangebeanindiana.com/2019/06/12/south-bends-singer-sewing-machine-company/
About the St. Johns factory:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/stjohns
A sad story about the St. Johns factory:
https://singer-featherweight.com/blogs/schoolhouse/singer-sewing-at-the-st-johns-factory-quebec-canada
In case I'm forgetting anything, here is my collection of vintage sewing machine links:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/285089-help-for-vintage-sewing-machines
However, it's a lot to sift through, so if you have any questions (other than value, which I don't do), just ask them here in a comment.
Hi again, Singerscott. :-)
I didn't mean to be a downer about the vintage of your sewing machine.
The decals are actually in pretty good shape for a sewing machine head that's over one hundred years old.
As to the 1884 reference, you might have found it on the treadle irons, e.g.:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ant-vtg-singer-treadle-sewing-machine-1900017480
Here's that October 14 1884 patent:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US306469
Inventor "P. Diehl" was no ordinary guy:
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/great-diehl-of-invention.html