This Mama Got a Brand New Baby!!

Hi y'all!

My Most Recent Acquisition

 Well, she's new only to me.....How new can she be when she was minted about the same time I was (1948 to 1950)?  OK, now I've told the whole world how old I am...LOL!

It started innocently enough on Thursday when some little voice told me to check the antiques section of Craig's List.  I check occasionally but not everyday.  I always click on ads for "vintage sewing machine" just because I love to look at the pics of them.  Lo and behold, the ad opened to a picture of a beautiful perfect little featherweight!  Since the title had included $120 I was doubly gobsmacked to find a FW listed at that price!

Right away I sent a reply to the seller, asking to see the machine.  Apparently there is a problem with replying on Craig's List on our computers.  It says your e-mail was sent and then it says that it wasn't sent.  Just like a computer---infuriating.  I chose to believe the first but apparently the latter was the truth.  My DH told me about this problem a couple of hours later when I told him about the FW for sale.  I tried again, going directly into my e-mail account and copy-pasting the Craig's List code into the e-mail address.  This method worked fine.  But I didn't get a reply from the seller that evening so I figured he had been inundated with eager buyers.

Yesterday, he called me!  Yes, the machine was still for sale and, yes, I could go see it at 7:30!  WOW
DH and I drove over, it wasn't far.

She was a beauty.  But then my heart sank when I saw that there was no bobbin case.  I asked him about it, and he said that all he had was what was with the little FW.  Then I looked in a little box of accessories and found the bobbin case.  WOW, again.

A Great Little Accessory Case Came with It

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the motor ran great.  I told DH in code that I wanted it.  The code is "I think this will do what I want to do with it."  He then had the NERVE to ask if the seller would take $100.  The answer was "Well, I guess so."  I was already getting out the money.

 This morning I spent some time cleaning her, making her shine again.  I put in a new needle, one drop of oil in the race, threaded her up and did a test sew-out.  The stitching was to die-for perfect!  And the sound she made while stitching was a contented, soft, "Tick, tick, tick."

Adhesive Gunk Left Behind

 Here is a project for me, removing all the gunk left behind after I removed the unsightly tape on the machine bed.  After this picture was taken, I took after it with WD-40 and removed about half of it.  More soaking and rubbing should do the trick.

A Successful Sew-Test!

At this point I decided to determine her birthdate.  I turned her over and discovered the oddest thing.
No serial number!  The AJ does give approximate date of manufacture, 1948 to 1950, but the rest of the plate where her unique serial number should be was as smooth as glass, totally blank!   I would love to hear from anybody who has seen this before.

Where Are the Missing Serial Numbers?

I am as happy as a cat in catnip, but I do have one problem.  I'm up to eight sewing machines now and three of them are Featherweights.  Maybe I won't look at Craig's List today.