Hey all,
I posted a
bit of the story about my adventures earlier in the week to go and pick up the Borletti treadle and the thrift store I found in the area that had a bunch of sewing machines for sale.
I left off one of the most exciting parts to the story but it wasn't Borletti related, so I thought I'd start this new thread. While I was in the back of the store, we were absorbed in looking at the Borletti and the lady was also showing me a beautiful HG Princess Palmer machine that she was coveting, we almost forgot to look at what else she had back there. I could see a bentwood case so I asked if I could see it. She brought it out but then quickly remembered that it was locked and they didn't have the key. I asked if she had tried a screwdriver but when I inspected the lock it was the type that has a pin in the middle. Still, it was a very exciting looking machine. Quite small. I tipped it back and could see a very small base plate set into the box and my heart started pounding...... There were a few amazing things it could have been but I really had no idea. I asked if she would sell it to me locked and she sold it to me along with the Borletti.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]464367[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]464368[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]464369[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]464371[/ATTACH]
When I got home I went straight for the keys to my Nan's old crystal cabinet and the kids' wardrobe. Needless to say, I'd really got myself all fired up about what it could be, especially as there were old shipping and customs labels peeling from the outside of the box....
Bingo with the wardrobe key! ..... and a bit of an interesting anticlimax - or maybe not so much disappointment as bemusement. I still don't quite know what I've got! It's a miniature-ish lockstitch machine badged Harris K. The only other marking on the body says 'FOREIGN' in gold on the back of the bed. The shuttle is marked D.R.G.M. and there is a serial number under the edge of the bed at the front. A bit meaningless without any makers mark. Here he is: "Harris the Handcrank". The head of the machine is about 23cm long (bed 29cm)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]464372[/ATTACH] ... and after a bit of 'Muv Luv'
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[ATTACH=CONFIG]464374[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]464381[/ATTACH] for scale. Next to a Singer 201.