Pre - 1873 Miniature Cast - Iron Antique Sewing Machine
Item History & Price
Reference Number: Avaluer:326461 | Original/Reproduction: Antique Original |
on my antique-sewing-machinecollection and ephemera. Please check
for new items each week. They will range from thesuper-rare to the more
common. Happy to combinepostage where practical.
It’s notoften that one is able to pin down the date of an antique sewing
machine. Butwith this Weir/Raymond machine it’s quite easy.
JamesGalloway Weir was a British politician who imported Raymond
chain...-stitch machinesfrom the maker in Canada and sold them under his
own name in the 1860s andearly ‘70s from an address in London’s Soho.
In 1873 hesuggested a range of improvements, but Raymond wasn’t
interested and Weir setup his own company, producing a modified model.
Theremaining Raymond machines were re-badged as The Globe and sold
at a knock-downprice.
Thissurvivor, serial number K327, has survived in remarkable condition,
with justabout 99% of its gold-leaf and hand-painted decoration still in great
order.
And there’san amazing plus.
Onedisadvantage of the Raymond/New England-type chain-stitch machines
was thatthey were so light they tended to dance around the table when being
used.
To counterthis, a number of manufacturers produced heavy cast-iron shoes
into which the machinewould sit, almost doubling its weight and doing away
with the dancing problem.
Machine onoffer here comes complete and even has a needle in situ and an
adjustablehemmer screwed to the stitch plate.
Everythingis totally original apart, perhaps, from the bobbin-tension spring at
the topof the sewing head which looks like a modern replacement.
Because of thepopularity of the machine a lot of research has been done for
reliable data onWeir/Raymond and their machines.
Please check out the following three links onthe International Sewing Machine
Collectors’ Society (ISMACS) website.
http://ismacs.net/weir/weir_millions_a_history_of_the_company.html
http://ismacs.net/weir/more_on_weir.html
http://ismacs.net/weir/even_more_on_weir.html
The Weirfeatured on offer here measures 8 ½ inches/210mm from left to right
excludingthe handle, 4 ½ inches/120mm from front to back is 8 ½ inches/210mm
high.
We willprovide a photocopied copy of the instruction leaflet that was originally
supplied with the original machine - please see picture.
This is a very heavy machine which will affect the shipping costs.
COURIERSHIPPING:
Please readbefore bidding as it is expensive to ship heavy items internationally from
the UK. Costs vary from country to country, even within Europe, so I have only quoted
for the mainland areas of the UK, Germany and the USA. If you want to bid from another
country please emailme in advance with a post/zip code and I will send you a quote.
These will be my actual costs with no hiddencharges.
UK mainland: $11 - Germany: $21 - USA:$65 - Australia: $75
Please email me if youhave any queries