It's just a sphinx decal 127 that was refurbished. I've got a sphinx 27 that is refurbished. Paint ins not flaking off, however they did not take off the singer plate when they did it, and you can see the part of the decal that was underneath with it removed. There are a few other places the old decal is peaking through too.
Dealers could do this - Singer's only catch was they were suppose to remove the badge. They could keep the Singer name on them. I don't know if painting over the batch counted, but that is what mine had. What I've read was that during the war when production of sewing machines stopped, dealers converted older treadle machines to electric and gave them on updated paint job so they'd have something to sell.
Did you know that Singer actually had a try at making hand guns? they didn't make many, guess they ddin't get the contract. They are very nondescript, and are worth way more than one would think looking at them.
Last edited by Macybaby; 03-29-2014 at 08:14 AM.