i have found the serial number of my Gritzner hand crank, thanks to the help of Mizkaki, and am now wondering if anyone has any idea of when my machine was made. The serial number is + 65414 7 Yes, there is a plus sign before the number and the 7 is a little lower and farther apart from the last 4 than the distance between the other numbers. I have seen a Gritzner that has a serial number of 1819892 on the web that 'they' date as C1907. I'm thinking that mine is a bit earlier than that. Do they actually have the + sign and are calling it a 1? The name plate on mine has Gritzner in a half circle at the top of the plate, Durlach curved up the other way at the bottom of the plate, with a spider, then TRADE MARK written below it, with only one word on a line. Does this help in identifying it at all for anyone reading this? Thanks for any help you can give.