Hi all
I'm excited ...and nervous!! I've now officially said YES to a machine I cannot house. Have I finally made the ranks of a true addict?
A little bit of background:
I was perusing machine listings as I often do for relaxation and noticed there were a couple of Necchi Supernova's for sale, both quite inexpensive too. I was mostly drawn to the cabinet because I go ga-ga for anything that has a lot of drawers in it. Interestingly, both of the listed machines had the same cabinet, but Googling produced no other pics of the same one.
I'm not sure of the vintage but it's 50's or 60's. The ad read, "over 50 years old. 1 owner." The asking price was $50. I got in touch with the lady to ask some questions. It was a typical ad with slightly blurry pics taken from too far away. After some back and forth, she ended up calling me and told me that it was her mother's machine from a deceased estate. When I said I was very sorry to hear about her mother, she said it had been nine months and it had not made it any easier. Having the machine there was only causing her further distress.
She
then proceeded to insist that if I wanted it, I should come and just take it. No charge. I was gobsmacked, of course. It was both a very generous and heartbreaking offer. I said I couldn't possibly take it for free, but was definitely happy to come and take it if that would help her. We have arranged pick up for tomorrow and agreed that I can bring her a gift as a token of thanks.
It's funny, if the transaction had been purely "buy/sell" then I would have been more hard-headed; picky about the condition of the machine and more discerning about my need (or lack thereof) for yet another mid-century machine in a cabinet. I would like to think that I might have made a more sensible decision to decide not to buy this machine... But now, it's gone beyond a simple business transaction and become personal. The same way it became personal when I saw that Phoenix treadle peeling and rusting in the wet grass and just
had to get it out of there!!
So, I feel it is only right that my first project on the Necchi (once I get it working
) should be some sort of "supernova" superhero outfit so that the next time I zoom to the outer reaches of Melbourne to rescue an unwanted machine, I can do it in style. What do you think?