ISMACS Logo

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.

Graham's True Stories
Number 3, The Idiot

It was 6 in the morning at an outdoor antiques show in up-state New York. It was raining hard and I was not at my best.

But there, on a table under 10 sheets of polythene directing the water down my leg, was a super-rare sewing machine, dating from the 1860s. It was near perfect, but for the fact that some designer-type had converted it to act as a table lamp, and, I suspected, was going to be very expensive indeed.

Now I always try to set up a little rapport with the vendor in these cases - helps to crunch the price down, I find.  Hoping to appeal to her innate love for antiquity I fired up with: "Now, what idiot tried to convert this fine machine into an ugly table lamp?"

She sniffed, looked me up and down, sniffed again and said: "I did".


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.

All rights reserved by ISMACS, under International and Pan American copyright conventions. Reproduction or copy of this page, in any form, in part or in whole, is strictly prohibited, without prior, written permission.

s