Cathy,
Thanks so much for sharing. I love the idea of collecting for each type of needle & shuttle. It is dangerous for me to like your idea!
Needle #20
Davis and White, old style, not sure I have a machine that takes this size - I use to . . .
Do you have an older Davis VF or a White VS?
needle #23
Singer round shank - don't know if I have one, does the 12 take this needle?
Yes it does. As do some German copies of the Singer 12.
I have a few cases. I collect them for their content rather than for the cases themselves. I have older cases too, so need to convert the numbers.
Christy,
The cases can be very confusing. Basically, Boye came up with the idea that although there were many many sewing manufacturers with various models, they could condense the number of needles, bobbin cases/shuttles and bobbins/shuttles to less than 30. This was from 197 sewing machine models identified and noted on the case. Then they created a case to sit on the counter of the General Store, which allowed the owner to easily service the patron. They simply dialed to the correct manufacturer/model, opened the little door and presto. If there was a doubt, the top of the case has pictures to compare shuttle and needle.
Realize Boye could only do this at a given point in time. New machines, new models... Manufacturers changed the needs to make their stuff unique!
From there things got a little confusing. Different models/designs of the Boye Case came out over time. For the most part we refer to the OLD Cases and the New Cases for ease of discussion and most often speak in terms of the New Case. Boye also created stickers to attach to the case for newer machines.
The most confusing aspect is at one point, we believe an employee of Boye made a huge mistake with the numbers. It is referred to as the Numbering Mystery. From one batch to another of later cases (New) a group of numbers 1-7 and also 8-16, got reversed. Too confusing to explain here, but go here
http://needlebar.org/main/boye/index.html for a thorough review.
So, when I find lose Boye needle tubes, unless I know each needle, which I don't, I would not know for sure if they were New or Old. If nothing else, understand that, fore example, if you know your New Home machine would take a Boye 3 needle from the referenced (New) Boye Case, make sure a seller knows if the tube is new or old.