Few old sewing machines are rare

Dear Helaine and Joe: I am wondering if you can steer me in the right direction. I am trying to figure out what year my sewing machine was made. It is marked "Minnesota" and has fancy gold decoration and a hand wheel for operation. It is has a serial number stamped on the back: No. 405772. Thank you. -- C. J.

Dear C. J.: The Industrial Revolution made the looming of cloth much quicker and easier, and as a result, cloth became much cheaper. To take full commercial advantage of these textiles, a machine was needed that could sew pieces of cloth or leather together to make clothing and other useable items.

It is thought that the first sewing machine was invented in the 1790s by Englishman Thomas Saint with the purpose of sewing leather together to make footwear. But the idea never went anywhere, and Saint's invention moldered in the patent office.

The first sewing machine used for commercial purposes was patented in 1830 by Barthelemy Thimonnier, who produced 80 machines, which he used to make uniforms for the French army. Unfortunately, the other tailors of Paris, fearing for their livelihoods, rose up and destroyed Thimonnier's shop and his sewing machines.

In the United States, the first practical sewing machine was produced by inventor Walter Hunt, but his device was not commercially successful. Elias Howe is usually credited with the invention of the sewing machine in the U.S.

Howe had a patent model by 1846, but each of his machines had to be hand-produced and could not be manufactured in mass numbers.

The first really successful American sewing machine was invented by Isaac Merritt Singer, a Shakespearian actor and part-time machinist, who made a patent model of a machine in 1851.

The new machine was expensive, but Singer tirelessly promoted it. By the end of the 19th century, there were a number of manufacturers of sewing machines, and they were fixtures in many American homes.

The sewing machine has been around for more than a century and a half, and very few of them are either rare or valuable. The machine belonging to C. J. is a Minnesota model "A," which was not made until 1914, and was a blatant rip-off of a Singer design that was made for and retailed by Sears.

Indications are that this machine was manufactured by the Davis Sewing Machine Company, which started out manufacturing in Watertown, N.Y., but later moved to Dayton, Ohio. It appears this particular style of cabinet is circa 1920, but the machine has been modified and may be missing a part or two (we notice that the thread spindle that should be located at the rear of this piece is not there).

Sewing machines of this age and type are not monetarily valuable and this example retails for around $125 or less.

As for the serial number, we checked and could find no list of these numbers, but we suspect that this is indeed the 405,772nd machine of this type that was manufactured.

Collectors tend to prefer machines made in smaller numbers, which are rarer.

HELAINE FENDELMAN and JOE ROSSON have written a number of books on antiques. E-mail them at treasures@knology.net.