Posted 8 years ago
fortapache
(3287 items)
I have been working on my basement/buildup room for the last few days. I don't really use it for anything so it has been a storage room along with the GI Joe room along with a few other things. I am putting my 1950s items down here now.
Back to the sewing machine I got the base off and was able to see the serial number. It is ER155839 which puts it at 1960 and a model 185K.
My furniture down there is shabby chic which is good as the previous owner painted the window trim in shabby chic. Which means they didn't use any masking tape when painting.
Would love to see the basement when it's all finished. :-))))
Why do something (paint) if you're not gonna do it right (not use painter's masking tape)??? Right??? lol....... JUST KIDDING!
All good. Particularly the accessories box.
Thank you very much Efesgirl. Just needs a bit more tidying up.
Thank you very much NevadaBlades. It was good enough for the mountains.
Thank you very much racer4four. Got to have the accessory box!
Thank you very much Thomas. Singers are easy to track if you know the serial number.
Thank you
NevadaBlades
Efesgirl
Caperkid
mcheconi
jscott0363
mikelv85
racer4four
brunswick
TassieDevil
gargoylecollector
vetraio50
SEAN68
fleafinder
OneGoodFind
Manikan
Thank you
SEAN68
NevadaBlades
fortapache, Hiding in plain sight all these years. };-)
Because fattytail2 has been going on an extended love tour of your posts, I happened to notice your Singer model 66, which led me to try to find out how many vintage sewing machines you have (it's more than a few).
As a result of that, I happened on this post of a Singer model 185K, complete with a picture of the underside showing exactly where the serial number is located.
That is like hen's teeth. There are a lot of people who post pictures of their vintage sewing machines on the Internet, and even tell the serial number, but very few show exactly where that serial number is to be found.
Now I know what I can link if I get somebody wanting help dating their Singer model 185. Thank you. :-)
However, before I go, is this the same machine, and you figured out that the RFJ8-8 designation was a red herring?:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/205347-green-singer-sewing-machine-model-rfj8
Thank you very much keramikos and thanks to fattytail2. Yes I have told a few people where to find the serial number on these. Yes feel free to link them here so they can see.
I don't recall about the RFJ8-8 which does not sound like a model # to me. Must have got that off the motor or something.
fortapache, You're welcome. :-)
I made a comment on your Singer RFJ8-8 post before I saw this update. I put links to an image of the plate that has the RFJ8-8 information on it in the other post. I think I might go back and link that post to this one.
As to this sewing machine having been made in 1960, Singer probably didn't help matters with confusing information like this in the serial number tables:
ER- 128034 178033 99/192/185K 50000 May 2 1960
ER- 318534 368533 185/99/192K 50000 June 16 1960
http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-er-series-serial-numbers.html
http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer_dating_by_serial_number.html
Yes, the machine associated with serial number "ER155839" probably rolled off of the assembly line at Clydebank some time between May 2 and June 16 of 1960.
However, the conflation of models 99, 185 and 192 in a single line entry might confuse a lot of people not used to reading the serial number tables. You figured it out, because you weren't a complete novice. };-)
By 1960, Singer was on the ropes. They were still making some good machines, but they couldn't compete with the good but less expensive machines coming out of Japan.
fortapache, Since this is the same machine featured in your Singer RFJ8-8 post, I probably should have written that the sewing machine head casting with the serial number "ER155839" was made at the Kilbowie/Clydebank Singer factory.
The sewing machine head casting was likely japanned in Canada, because per singersewinginfo dot com, Clydebank model 185 machines were painted beige. That green color apparently was a New World thing.
Your machine might well have some Canadian-made components, but it seems likely that wherever the various components were made, they were all assembled in Canada, which probably would account for that little silver plate underneath the balance wheel reading "MADE IN CANADA."
The consolidation of the production of models 99, 185, and 192 was 'natural,' because they were family:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/99k
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/185
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/192
All told, Singer made a little less than six hundred thousand of those three models between 1958 and 1961.
Thank you very much keramikos. Some very interesting information.
fortapache, You're welcome. :-)
I don't know if you're just being polite, but it definitely interests me, although I don't quite know why. };-)
Maybe it's just the wealth of information that's out there, especially about Singers.
fortapache, I'm planning to make a post about vintage sewing machine serial number locations (other than the fairly well-known pre-1950s Singer one).
Despite my vintage sewing machine obsession, I don't actually own any, so I don't own any pictures thereof.
Could I use one of your pictures of this Singer model 185 for it? I'd give ya credit. :-)
Feel free to use whatever of mine you need. That is all good with me.
fortapache, Thank you very much. :-)
I'd already linked it in the comments section of my new "Vintage Sewing Machine Serial Number Location Help" post, but I'd like to get pictures of vintage sewing machine serial numbers that I can put directly in the post, and circle the serial number. Sometimes a picture is indeed worth a thousand words:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/301606-vintage-sewing-machine-serial-number-loc
I'd try to light a fire under AnythingObscure to go back and take a picture of the serial number on his Singer 403A, but now that I have permission to use a picture of your Singer 185K, I think I should try to go for pictures of a couple of non-Singer machines.
Thanks again,
keramikos
Your black telephone is just like the one in my childhood home except, instead of the spiral cord, our’s had a woven cloth-like covering on a straight cord. We had a 4 digit phone number: 9605.
Thank you very much Watchsearcher. A woven cord puts you one up on me.
Sadly, I don’t know whatever happened to that phone…i seem to recall that the telephone company actually owned all the home phones and just “rented” them to you. Ours was a desk phone - when we moved to a new house and got wall phones, I think the phone company took our old phone back. I would love to still have it.
Whoops keramikos -- I nearly missed this?! That'd be my 'surprise' newer machine in the old cabinet? (still in my storage locker, but I don't think its completely buried in other stuff yet??)
AnythingObscure, We're muddying the trail here. I'll comment on the pertinent posts of yours.