Posted 14 years ago
valerielove
(3 items)
I purchased this at an antique shop and have been unsuccessful in finding any substantial information about it. The only information I found was this article from Collector's Weekly - the link is http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-antique-sewing-machine-collector-harry-berzack/
Can anyone provide me further information and a value of this rare and unique sewing machine?
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
These old machines are gorgeous !!
Pretty machine, it's a National Rotary. Not particularly rare or unique, and I can't work out how it would be operated in the current state? Does it have a motor added? Or maybe a treadle head that's been put into a portable base?
I have a friend that has one just like it in a treadle base . I could have bought it from her a while back , but I do not have room for it . This machine started out as a treadle also . I do not know why anyone would put it into a case as it has no motor boss to attach a motor or handcrank . I guess they just wanted to display it .
It's hard to tell from that one photo - it may have had one of the friction drive motors - like this one?
http://www.sewnuts.com/non-sing/horne.htm
This Manhattan machine never had a friction drive motor !
I'm amazed that you can be so certain, DobbinDee70. It's really hard to tell from the photo above. Here is an example of how the friction motor attaches.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2362972280054936530nUTMxh
Bernadette : I am certain because I have seen this model machine in PERSON !!! There is no place to attach a motor on this model machine . I also own several friction drive sewing machines and I know how they work . The Manhattan machine pictured above was made as a TREADLE and nothing else .
In person, well that does make a difference - thank you for sharing that, and it certainly clears up any mystery about the machine. I wonder if Valerie saw my first comment 9 months ago?
need help with Manhattan treadle sewing machine
Hi, four000. :-)
"need help with Manhattan treadle sewing machine"
That's kind of a tall subject, depending on what kind of help you need.
Apparently, there was indeed a Manhattan Sewing Machine Company a long time ago:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1070601
However, the machine in this post is what's known as a "badged" machine.
Probably the best known example of badging would be the Sears Kenmore line. Sears contracted with various manufacturers to make sewing machines, refrigerators, washing machines, etc., and put the Kenmore name on them.
If you've read the earlier comments, you'd have seen that the machine in this post was actually made by the National Sewing Machine Company, and it's a rotary. I think it might be the National R41:
https://web.archive.org/web/20151011030327/http://www.needlebar.org/main/national/rotary/04/index.html
Manhattan must have been a popular badge name, because National also made a Manhattan badged vibrating shuttle sewing machine, which is a significantly different mechanism from a rotary:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/298808-national-sewing-machine--manhattan
Indeed, the Davis Sewing Machine Company and the Standard Sewing Machine company also used the Manhattan badge name:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230108021641/http://needlebar.org/main/makers/usa/national/index.html#m
In order to help you, the first thing you'd need to provide is pictures of your machine. You can't add pictures here in a comment; you'd need to create a post of your own with up to four pictures.
However, I don't know if you noticed, but Collectors Weekly Show & Tell is experiencing technical problems. This is not a new problem, and it probably won't ever get fixed.
A better solution would be for you to create an account on the Victorian Sweatshop forum, and a post with pictures of your machine there:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/
There are numerous vintage sewing machine enthusiasts there with experience both wide and deep (I'm a member myself, but I wouldn't classify myself as an expert). No matter what kind of help you need, it's very likely that you'll be able to get solutions there.
If you still want to pursue help here, I'll try to help you, but you'll need to create a post of your own with pictures of your machine.
Because the CW S&T forum is slow and glitchy, try to keep your hands off of the keyboard and mouse once you press "Save" on your post. If you get an error, before you try pressing "Save" again, check your profile, because the post might have been created, and you don't want to end up with duplicate posts.