White Family
 

I was in a quilt store yesterday when a lady came in with a gorgeous White machine - probably from the 20s. My similar one is a 1926. The machine is shiny with excellent decals and has recently been professionally cleaned and oiled. The bentwood case was complete, but could use some finish. Price - free. She gave it to the shop owner. Wow.

Hopefully the shop owner will appreciate what she was given and preserve this fantastic machine.

For now, she wants to display in the front window beside the new Janomes, but needs a stronger base. That is one heavy machine. The Janome currently in the spot is on a cardboard box with a fabric drape, so that won't work.

I would caution anyone against displaying a nice old machine in a shop window for any length of time. The sunlight can damage old machines and cases/bases.

I have a couple of old worn-out hand crank machines that I use as displays in our shop windows (that face north away from the sun), but keep the better machines out of the window displays and away from the sunlight.

CD in Oklahoma

I wondered about that, but then I wouldn't have that red Janome in a window, either.
We don't have the sun you do. Northern Michigan has some cloud cover from the Great Lakes. The window does face north. I think it's sunny here until I go to Iowa where I was born, then I get fried.
It would be a shame for anything to happen to those gorgeous decals.

I think the White Rotary as a "portable" weighs about 40 #.
Sharon in Texas

that is something I was just wondering about...I have one of mine sitting in front a window (its pretty, but has no motor)...guess I need to relocate it...............the sunshine really can cause damage to it?

In the long run the sun will have an effect on the paint and decals regardless of cloudy weather or more northern latidues. The colored decals will fade, not so sure about the gold or black shellac. I think the black pigment in the shellac is tar, might fade, but the shellac will likely go dull and brittle much faster.