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International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society

The purpose of the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society is to foster the collecting of, and research into, sewing machines.

Year of Production

This information provided to ISMACS courtesy Elna USA

Before 1963 the first digit in the serial number is the year of production.

1963 A
Star Series introduced 1964 B
1965 C
1966 D
1967 E
1968 F
1969 G or H
1970 K
1971 L
New Model Star Series with Blue Case introduced 1972 M
1973 N
1974 P
1975 R
1976 S
1977 T
Air Electronic introduced 1978 U
Stella/Elnita introduced 1979 V
1980 X
1981 Y
Carina/Elna 500 introduced 1982 Appears to be an upside-down "V"

Week of production was introduced in 1981. First two digits would indicate the week of production. Y32 at the beginning of the serial number would indicate the 32nd week of 1981.


ISMACS is an organization totally independent of all sewing-machine manufacturers, past or present and is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in these pages.  Please Note: Do not contact any ISMACS official in an attempt to solicit a valuation - it is not possible other than by hands-on assessment and your request will be ignored.

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