Thanks for the quick responses,
Cari-in-Oly and
miriam. I only just got it yesterday afternoon. After oiling it up, it does appear to be functional, but I'm going to have to work on some tension settings before I try anything significant (or play with the fancy stitches). It's in pretty good shape for having been abandoned in a house that I've been told was in really bad shape. The "Brother" label is on the workings underneath, not actually on the body of the machine (all the other stamps are in the metal, and the JA26 is hard to read; someone has marked over it--may be a 28).
I've seen a couple references to a list in the Yahoo group for dating Japanese badged machines; how do I find it?
I think I may be getting addicted to old machines myself...I have a Singer Featherweight that was a gift and a Singer (model 99, I think) from the 40's (I have the info. at home).