Alex has spent a lifetime in the sewing industry and is considered one of the foremost experts of pioneering machines and their inventors. He has written extensively for trade magazines, radio, television, books and publications world wide. You may have seen him on The Great British Sewing Bee or How The Victorians Built Britain.
The simple guide to dating your early Singer sewing machines.
(Where your Singer has two serial numbers always choose the larger of the two to date your machine)
On the throat plate or bed of the machine, up to a series of 8 numbers. Why do Singer Sewing Machines have Serial Numbers? Singers have always been marked with serial numbers ever since production began. Each number is corresponding to a model from a certain date, and even location. All Singer sewing machines up until 1900 have no letter prefix, and came from all around the world.
Singer machine serial number dating Guide
(Brace yourself it's tricky!)
Please note this is only a guide, not gospel! Some people mail me to say they have a receipt from 1950 so how could my guide have their machine as made in 1948 or 1949? Let me explain. The production runs at factories like Kilbowie were complex and long. The castings were marked with the serial number during manufacture. The machines were miles from completion, packing and delivery. Then there is delivery to the depot, storage, sales to the shop, and eventually sales to the customer.These factors all effect the purchase/receipt date, but not the date of manufacture.
For example during WW2 it is a well know fact the Singers were making guns and bullets as well as sewing machines. Only when they could spare the time would they continue with sewing machine production. I have come across a woman who bought her machine brand new in 1946 yet the casting was clearly made in 1939 just before the outbreak of WWII. During World War Two Singer had back orders for over three millions machines!
Now to the dating
All Singers up until 1900 have no letter prefix and came from several factories around the world. The company cleverly managed their production from all factories to coincide with the serial number flow. If you fancy a read on the collapse of Singer in Britain have a go at End of Empire.
Why two serial numbers?
Very early Singers from the 1850's up until the start of prefix letters in 1900 had two serial numbers. There is a lot of controversy over why there were two lots of numbers. The most likely answer is that the larger number was the total number of machines produced by Singers when they only had a few factories and could keep up with, and control, the production output from Britain and America. They would order machines in batches say, 1,000 or 10,000 from Kilbowie, Elizabethport and elsewhere. The lower number may be the total production/batch run of that particular model range, the larger the overall total number of Singer machines made.
Singers have never manage to shed light on these two numbers!
Singer Sewing Machine Serial Numbers Value
Note: when two serial numbers are on the machine use the larger of the serial numbers.
Anyway here goes nothing. I do hope you find it useful.
Note:
Singer Treadle Sewing Machine Model Numbers
On pre-1900 Singer machines if there are two serial numbers, always use the higher, longer, larger, serial number of the two to date your machine.