Hengstenberg cliftonia | ||
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Posted 5 months ago
Mariaodey
(2 items)
Hi I have just been given this sewing machine that belonged to my great great grandmother. I can’t seem to find much information on its date or its name “Cliftonia” can anybody please help.
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Hi, Mariaodey. :-)
Wow, I don't think anybody has posted a vintage sewing machine here in months, but the holidays do have a way of bringing out things like this.
So this belonged to your great great grandmother, huh? That is beyond cool.
I hope you'll be able to exercise a bit of patience, because all I can tell you immediately is that it's a badged transverse shuttle (that cruciform arrangement of the needle plate and slide plates is tell-tale) made by Hengstenberg, which was a very respected sewing machine maker:
https://ismacs.net/hengstenburg-anker/home.html
Here are some other Hengstenberg transverse shuttles:
https://sewalot.com/hengstenberg_machine_history.htm
http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/Hengstenberg%20&%20Co%20sewing%20machine.htm
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-anker-hengstenberg-1906-512219062
What does badged mean? It means that a retailer contracted with a manufacturer to make a product, and put a specific name on it.
Probably one of the best known badges in the USA is Kenmore. Sears had the Kenmore name put on a wide variety of products, such as refrigerators, washing machines, clothes dryers, and, yes, sewing machines. Sears didn't actually make any of them.
In the case of your great great grandmother's machine, the badge name appears to be "Cliftonia," possibly a reference to this botanical:
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cliftonia-monophylla/
I can't quite make out all of the lettering in that central decal in the sewing machine bed, but I see "Domestic Machine Co." and "Green Bristol."
There was a Domestic Sewing Machine Co., but I don't think this is the same thing.
Give me a couple of days, because tomorrow is a holiday, and I'll be away from my desktop.
If I can't find any more information, I'll link this post over on the Victorian Sweatshop forum. The combined depth and breadth of vintage sewing machine information among the members there is tremendous.
Just linking these two related posts to each other:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/327671-cliftonia-hengstenberg