Billy, my DH collected vintage machines in the late 90's. When he was in the process of a divorce, he went to Florida for his son's wedding. While he was gone, his estranged wife broke into the home (which he retained as his residence) and took all of the machines except two of them. One of those taken was a Grover and Baker circa 1855 (page 105 of Encyclopedia of Early American and Antique Sewing Machines Third Edition) with a curved needle. She sold them to a antique shop for about $25-$50 each. This Grover and Baker was one of two machines left. A couple of those taken were a Wheeler and Willson (picture on page 254, fig 2-317 same book) and a Wheeler and Wilson (close to the one on page 258) It was from the Civil War era.
The other one that is left is a Wilcox and Gibbs which was one of the first portables. It was similar to the one on Page 267 (bottom) but an earlier model, probably around 1920. He was heart sick. Thanks for listening to my story. I knew you would appreciate the information.
Originally Posted by Lostn51
Originally Posted by twinkie
I am going to try to post pictures of our oldest machine. (We have 38). It is an 1852 Grover and Baker treadle with a coffin lid. It has a beautiful Walnut cabinet and the machine moves freely. It is going to have to be cleaned up and "polished". It has been in a storage unit for 6 years. The only thing we can see that it needs is "beautification and some TLC".
Oh man that looks like the one I missed out on at a auction not to long before I got sick. Yeah I would be so proud to own that machine and if you cold find the model just before that one you would have a treadle with the band wheel facing the other way. That was some really neat engineering involved in that machine and they were of super high quality!!
Billy