Only 4,500 made
 

Anyone ever had or heard of a Singer 99K made of aluminum in 1922 (s/n Y721908). There were only 4,500 made.

I picked one up CL, love it because of the weight. It came in a beautiful bentwood case. Do you know what the price would be compared to the normal 99K?

I used to have an aluminum 99 which I removed the motor from and installed a hand crank----nice lightweight machine. There not all that common but wouldn't say rare. Value is largely based on marketing and aesthetic condition of machine.

Jon

It could be (I haven't checked to be sure) that there were only 4500 made in that particular run. No matter how many were made I wouldn't mind finding one.
There's also an aluminum 99 clone out there: the BelAir Bantam. They show up occasionally on Shopgoodwill and Craig's List too. I'm not sure if they were made with multiple brands or not.
Rodney

I checked - and that is just that run. However ISMACS only show notations for one other "ALUM" run, but that isn't "official" just the notes they have.

It is very uncommon, and likely Singer did make less than 100,000 of them, which is a tiny run for Singer, since they made most machines in the Millions.

As to value - all depends on if there is a collector that has the "hots" for one and is willing to pay through the nose to get one. There are not a lot of collectors willing to pay the big bucks to add to their collection, and most that are, want much older, rarer machines (like SteveH). And then, for it to be worth a lot to a collector, it needs to be in near mint condition.

jmabby, does it look just like a regular Singer 99?

And how heavy (or should I say "light") is it. I would love to have a 99 that doesn't weigh 2 tons.

This machine does look like another singer 99, except it is a older model.
aluminum weighs, with case bottom, 17.4 pounds
the common weighs, with case bottom, 26.7 pounds





[ATTACH=CONFIG]512916[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]512917[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]512919[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]512918[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]512915[/ATTACH]

That is a sweet looking 99!

If you ever decide it needs a new home, let me know

I have to clean it up and rewire it, but it has a home for the time being, but will keep you in mind. Thanks

How did you identify that is is aluminum? Did the seller market it as such?

Brian