What kind of machine is this?
 

A friend of mine wanted to know if she should bid on this for me (hope it uploads). But I have no idea what kind of machine or how much it may be worth..any ideas? Says it's made in France in the 1880's and only about 50 made.

oops...only 1500 made not 50.

Hard question! :D They didn't give a name brand?

Without a better picture, it's hard to tell what it is...and it looks like an early Wheeler & Wilson did....
That being said, for something that looks that good, and if I had the money, I'd probably go as high as $300-$400 for it...depending on what it is and whether or not it is actually a French machine.

Needles will be difficult, at best, to find...attachments nearly impossible. Sure would look good in a sewing room tho! :)

Be careful of the "only 1500 made" claims.... folks say that about the Singers all the time, because they will see the serial number listings and for example, it will show a 15-91, made on a certain date in 1946, and the allotment number of 5000, and they'll assume that there were only 5000 of the model made, when in fact there were millions of the 15-91s, just that they only made 5000 in that run of them.

Thanks Charlee, my friend is going to call about it for me to get specifics. My biggest problem is it's in FL and I'm in NY!

Sounds like a road trip for you both! Meet 1/2 way and make sure there's plenty of LQS in the area!

Cool machine!!!

is it a left-hand machine?

She looks pretty, I would probably say....YES!

I had to say no to the machine, sadly, as she is cute but I just couldn't afford it right now. The people want $700.00 for it and it's a bit out of my price range! So if anyone one is in the Micanopy FL area it's there waiting for a good home!

yes it would look wonderful in any room of my house:) . my dh found one of these in a tool auction in an old barn in PA yrs ago. i cleaned it enough to see that it wasn't the antique scroll saw that he had brought home, but a sewing machine. explained to him that that was not a wierd saw blade, but that it was a needle. on nxt few trips to industrial arts museum at the smithsonion, we examined the models that they had as minutely as we could. they had lots & lots of this machine. sorta burst our bubble, as the number that they had of it made us think that it was not that rare. but this is the first time that i have seen a pic of one in it's wooden cabinet. that is beautiful. since i have learned to use the web search places i had not thought to search this machine, & it is still packed anyway. no room in current home for my sewing treasures or a sewing room :(. i love old things..especially when sewing/quilting related.