Alekia,
Your machine is a Singer 201, I've never seen one with a copper face plate before. My 1936 Singer 201k came from the factory in Kilbowie,Scotland as a hand crank machine, I prefer to treadle it.
The little girls I was teaching to sew like it as a hand crank machine.

Info From Singer:
It was born in 1928.... Knew that.... They had nothing else.... But I asked about the copper plate anyway...
She came back after talking to some expert..... Apparently they came to two conclusions.
First it was an aftermarket part, which they figured was unlikely considering it came from an old museum.
Second and the one they thought was most likely.... It was a special order. She said they did special orders all the time, especially in some of the overseas market. On top of special orders, she said some of the factories had samples there and they were usually unique. She also stated it may have been for a really good sales man or simply a special order from some high ranking person.

I have to go with the second as well. Knowing what was in there and some of his collections besides, he was picky and went for the distinct.

So for me the mystery continues.....

Jen
Thanks for the kind words darling.... It was so nice to see you today!
Jen is a true machine lover.... Unlike me, I love my machines. However, I see no reason for anything that was made without a "Singer" tag.... I think they are junk or should I say "scrap".... Not Jen though, she appreciates every machine for it's uniqueness and history... I really admire her for that!

haha yeah another 4 1/2 hours at her house last night and I convinced her not to get rid of a few things, so i'm going to help her list them for sale on ebay in the near future. I also had to bring home a few more treasures, so I came home with a gorgeous White coffin top treadle, a Tiffany/Gingerbread singer, another singer in a bentwood case, and a New Cottage with the celtic designs. I'll post up pics later. Gotta go take my kiddos on a field trip this morning.

That copper plate is so pretty. We sat it side by side with another 201 and examined the plates. The design is nearly identical with only minor differences, but now I'm intrigued as to who that machine could have been made for. It is in pristine condition except for a few small spots on the bed of the machine, and in that whole storage unit where machines were stacked on top of each other and somewhat haphazardly placed, this one was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and in a separate box so nothing could get to it. There were only 2 others wrapped up like that, and like Alex said, Frank's collection of everything was not just amassed without regard. Seems everything he collected was particular and thought out. I can't wait until she gets back with all the papers that have some records on these machines. Since I now own about 20 of the machines from his collection I am very curious if there's any documentation for the ones I ended up with too!