amcatanzaro

The 31-15 is from September of 1916. I'm assuming this the electric machine that replaced it.

I probably should also mention, my great-grandfather and family lost everything in repossession during the depression. In my mind he probably kept the 31-15 since it was his livelihood, although that's just speculation. He might have purchased it second hand later. Ah, the stories that were lost.

amcatanzaro

And it has finally surfaced! Not a Singer! The instruction manual claims it is an Expert "B" Electric from National "Bluegrass" on the machine and case. It is the VS I was expecting as I found quite a few of that type of bobbin in the drawer of the 31-15. At some point the original foot pedal was replaced with a Singer button pedal (hey! I have one that works now!). Full complement of attachments plus some random stuff. The case was kinda basement moldy, that's been fixed.
Apparently it was serviced at some point, there was a repair sticker on there. Of course it ruined a bit of the decal. Grr.
It had one of the fabric pin wraps around it and there were 3 different sized needles in it. I'm sure one of those goes to the machine.
Forgive the slightly out of focus, the sun was strong at that point of the day.
Is there a good place to date this model? Or does someone know?

vmaniqui

That's a nice machine. Just need a little tlc and it will be pretty in no time. Sorry as I am not an expert on 'blue grass' so can't give any advise.

oldsewnsew

Blue Grass! yess!!

ArchaicArcane

I would check the manual for an approximate date. There may be a copyright date in it?

amcatanzaro

Nope. Not a one. There's a nice price list though.

Oops! When I was looking at the Greist booklet the warranty fell out. December 15, 1931 when it was purchased.

Macybaby

National didn't usually put dates or names on their manuals - that way they could send them out no matter what "name" was on the machines.

This is one of my favorite models.

joobee

Nice machine. Have fun with it!