Featherweight
 

My DH dragged this home the other day, anybody ever see one of them before. Always something new.

Only on the internet! That is very special- Congratulations.

Yikes! Hold that one close, and add it to your home owners insurance. That's one of the truly rare fws that is sought after by collectors. It is one of the very first ones made when introduced at the Chicago worlds fair. You are a lucky lady to happen across one. :)

I asked about the value on another board and the ballpark figure given was 3-5k. She said you could put it on ebay with a buy it now price of 5k and probably sell it within an hour. I imagine it does depend on condition somewhat. But either way, your dh did good. Real good. :)

NICE!! Congrats on a wonderful find!!

Great find!!!

What a good husband you have to bring home such a valuable machine!

WOW! How wonderful. Congratulations!

Lucky duck! Hope he got a deal on it!

WOW! I have never seen one before! I am green with envy :hunf: Congrats!

Ooooooo, congrats. Must admit that I'm green with envy. If you decide to sell, I'd definitely be interested.

I have to thank you guys for your comments, we really didn't know what we had at first, we knew of the Red S machines, but this has taken us by surprise. And as you know we are in the side business of refurishing ans custom painting featherweights for others, but this one we will not touch except to give it a good clean up and tune up, but I doubt if we will keep it. I believe it is 78 yrs old, simply amazing. We are not collectors, I love these little machines and will have one or two I can use for sewing, but not collect them.

I think it is wonderful that so many of you collect machines and know the histories behind them. I love old things, and often think, if only they could tell us their stories. Thanks again.

What is the name of this machine - a centennial or what? It's certainly beautiful.

This would be called a "1934 Chicago World's Fair badge" machine. It was the official introduction of the Featherweight.

Could you post a couple of pictures of the entire machine, tray and case? That's about as close to this machine as most of us will ever get. Thanks.

I will try posting some pics tonight.

Wow, it looks in beautiful condition too!!

Here are a few more photos. This is how the machine looked when he brought it home. As you can see the machine itself is in nice condition aside from decal degradation. I think it will clean up to be better than fair condition. I wish I could say the same for the case.

On another note, has anyone seen a foot pedal like this one, I know it is not original, but have never seen one of this type.

Thanks for your interest in this, what turns out to be, rare machine.

Lucky you!, where did your hubby drag it from? How did he find it?

You can find out a lot of information about Featherweight history, including entries about the various foot controls and the cases, here:

http://thefeatherweight221factory.com/page11.php

I'm curious about the third picture showing the serial number, the last 3 numbers aren't visible, is it just the picture or have they been tampered with? There is an interesting story about AD series machines and altered numbers at this same site.

How wonderful. I would like to see more pictures. I have two FWs. One better than the other.

Open that foot pedal and if it has white ceramic plates, it may be not be a good idea to use it. Mine overheated and several members of the vintage board says they are not safe to use.

That's a wonderful find.

Not to worry, the serial# is complete, just chose not to show the whole number. Nothing has been tampered with.
Thanks for the link, they have written some great information. Too bad a lot of photos are not displayed on the earlier articles though.

She's a real beauty! It never ceases to amaze me that people have so little regard for these wonderful things which depict our history! I would never be able to part with a machine like this! Of course, I can't afford to collect antique machines, but I can sure admire someone else's collection. She's wonderful and I'm really happy for your DH find!

Congrats.

Jeanette Frantz