Strange toy machine; is it for real, or is the housing missing?
 

Not that I am thinking of buying this, at $250, but how weird it looks; did they really look like this, or has someone taken the body off it?

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-art-collectib...ationFlag=true

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/Nzc1WDc4Ng...TSByq/$_35.JPG

LOL, that is a Singer Model 20. Great shape, WAY overpriced....

Yes, it was made exactly like that (with a clamp to hold it to the desk)

They even made an electric version.

Was the model 20 considered a toy? Given the flimsy looking stampings on that one I'm guessing they were but I also know that some small chain stitch machines were real sewing machines.
I stay away from the toy machines. I have enough obsessions to keep me busy (and broke). :shock:
Rodney

Technically, It was marketed as a girls sewing machine, not a toy.

The cover says "Childs Sewing Machine" and "NOT a toy"

The box even has comments like "A Singer for the Girls" and "Teaches them to make clothes for their dolls"

I've seen these boxes on ads. It really looks like a W&G chain stitch machine from the 19th century. The lack of a cover makes it all the more interesting, but for $250 I could get an actual full size W&G in its bench!

I don't know about the Model 20, but the similarly styled Model 24 was sold as an industrial machine, a domestic sewing machine, and a child's sewing machine.

lol bet it teaches them to keep those fingers back too!

I think it is also missing a wooden table by the needle as well as a clamp to keep still on table.

As a child I sewed on one of these!! My friend had one....we made little dresses for our dolls!! We had it clamped to a table!! I was around 8 yrs old at the time, and quite an 'accomplished' sewer!!! My Grandma taught me on a Singer treadle machine that my father had converted to an electric machine, when I was 6yrs old!! We spent many happy hours 'creating' outfits!!! Lovely memories!!

These toys are getting very pricey. Depending on paint and chrome condition, the price is the going rate now days. It needs a clamp, however the chrome table is correct. If it had the box it would be considerably more. I have been collecting the toy Singers for 10 years. A blue Model 20 recently sold for $700. In addition, there are several models in the Singer toys, with changes to the hand wheel and tension dial.