Questions and Answers

QUESTION: I have a Singer lightweight Model 221 sewing machine along with all its attachments and case.  It was given to me in 1940.  I would appreciate if you can tell me its value.  --  JT, Bath, PA

ANSWER: Your lightweight machine is actually a Singer “Featherweight.”  According to the history found on Singer’s website, www.singerco.com, Singer introduced its “Featherweight” model in 1933 at the Chicago World’s Fair.  In the same year, the company opened manufacturing facilities in Monsa, Italy and Bournieres, France.  These joined nine other worldwide Singer manufacturing facilities.

The “Featherweight” is one of the few portable sewing machines that have collectible value.  Key to its continued popularity is its use by individuals who travel the country in mobile homes and campers.

The “Featherweight” has its own website, www.singer-featherweight.com.  The site contains a history of the “Featherweight,” keys to dating your machine, a list of accessories that were available, and a wealth of other information.

The following is an excerpt from the history section: “Although the Featherweight clearly owes much to the earlier Standard Sewhandy portable, it is probably not true to say that the Singer company bought out Standard just to get its hands on the Sewhandy design.

“In fact, when Standard went to the wall, the Ossan company picked up the pieces before selling on to Singer.

“It would be difficult to deny, however, that the Sewhandy was not the inspiration for the Featherweight.

“The Featherweight has the same unitary design with the ‘works’ hidden in a deepened base, and built to sell first and foremost as a portable.

“But the improvements that Singer built into the new Featherweight made it succeed where the Sewhandy had failed to rescue Standard.

“The new machine had aluminum base and arm components drastically reducing the weight (the Sewhandy had a cast-iron arm), a flip-up extension table that increased the work area and an easily-selected reverse feature.  Maintenance was made easier with a single thumb screw releasing the bottom pan for lubrication….

“The new design was introduced to the public in 1933 at the Chicago World’s Fair.  The improved model, which followed three years later, had a re-worked bobbin case and a numbered dial which took the guesswork out of tension setting.

Production during WW2 was severely limited and some machines made during this period had blackened parts instead of chrome and others a crinkle-finish paint work…..”

According to the “Singer Featherweight Facts and some myths exposed” page, “Singer Featherweight machines were produced in black, beige/tan and white/green (what the company called Pale Turquoise).

“There were no red, blue or any other colour (sic.) machines although many have been repainted in later life and new decals added.”

Relative to dating machines, the site offers this advice: “The Singer company has long propounded the myth that it can pinpoint the very day of manufacture of its machines.  Not true.  The date given as a ‘birthdate’ is simply the day on which vast batches of serial numbers were released to various factories.

“Even the dates given and the machines assigned by Singer in its ‘dating service’ are open to doubt….”

The site offers these letter codes and dates for Singer machines made at its Elizabeth, New Jersey plant:  AD (1930 to1934); AE (1935 to 1938); AF (1938 to 1940); AG (1940 to 1941); AH (1947 to 1948); AJ (1948 to 1950); and AK (1950 to 1951).

Singer Model 221 Featherweight machines appear for sale on a weekly basis on eBay.  Final value depends on body color, condition, and accessories.  The majority of the machines sell between $350.00 and $500.00, albeit several scarce models closed between $1,000.00 and $1,850.00.

My recommendation is to assume you own one of the common rather than scarce examples.  The good news is that if you wished to sell it, your chances of obtaining top dollar, at the moment, are excellent.

QUESTION: I have searched and searched on the Internet to find some information about a toy tea set that I have.  It was made in Japan, but I do not know when.  I received it as a young girl.  On the back of the box, which looks like a small suitcase, is the following information: “Kress No. 30-02-5114B / Concern No. 12714 / Toy Tea Set / 1 Set.”  The set is decorated in a rose floral motif.  Your help would be really appreciated.  --  KG, E-mail Question

ANSWER: The Internet is a wonderful research tool provided you ask the right questions.  Of course, these questions are tangential, but fun to pursue.  In this instance, “Kress” rang a bell.  I remembered visiting a Kress five and dime store when I was a child.

My research took me to www.kressfoundation.org, where I found a history of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation as well as information on Samuel H. Kress and his brothers, Claude W. Kress and Rush H. Kress as well.  The Kress Foundation is one of America’s leading art philanthropic organizations.  The Allentown (Pennsylvania) Art Museum is one of eighteen cities along with twenty-three colleges and universities that benefited from his gift of European Old Masters paintings.  Visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., benefit greatly from Kress’ generosity.

Your tea set was sold in an S. H. Kress & Co. 5 and 10 Cent store.  The following excerpts are from the history pages of www.kressfoundation.org.: “On Main Streets across the nation, the vast retailing empire of S. H. Kress & Co. 5 – 10 – 25 Cent stores, established in 1896, operated a chain of distinctive, elegant buildings purveying cheerful, low-priced notions and durable household wares.  Designed to exacting company standards, the handsome Kress stores were cherished no less as prominent local landmarks than for their quality merchandise.  In an age of civic boosterism, the downtown ‘Kress’s’ were celebrated beacons of prosperity and progress, exemplars of urban art, and magnets of municipal pride….

The most distinctive and best remembered Kress stores are a group of fifty or more Art Deco buildings dating from 1929-1944 that were all designed by Edward F. Sibbert (1899-1982), the company’s long-time chief architect…Well-positioned hanging lamps created a bright atmosphere (notably more so than other variety stores) for an endless array of inexpensive items (there were 4,275 different articles in 1934) serviced by salesladies in tan and ivory uniforms that blended with the pale walls.  Everything, from the constantly restocked merchandise to the gracious retiring rooms and popular soda fountain in the basement, encouraged customers to linger….

“For additional information on the history of the Kress stores, and splendid illustrations, see America’s 5 & 10 Cent Stores: The Kress Legacy, by Bernice L. Thomas, 1997.”

I trust my older readers appreciate this trip down Nostalgia Lane.  For those too young to remember 5 & 10 Cent stores, do some local research into the stores that served your community.  The 5 & 10 Cent store was the dollar store of its era.

Returning to your tea set, it most likely dates from the mid- to late 1950s.  Had it been made between 1946 and April 1952, it would have been marked “Made in Occupied Japan.”  The “30-02-5114B” is a Kress inventory number.  “Concern No. 12714” is most likely a Kress code used to identify the manufacturer.

Margaret and Kenn Whitmyer’s Collector’s Encyclopedia of Children’s Dishes: An Illustrated Value Guide (Collector Books, 1993; 276 pages, $19.95) notes that late 1940s and 1950s Japanese-made children’s tea sets are found in two-, three-, and four-place settings.  Pattern and number of place settings are keys to determining value.  In 1993 the Whitmyers priced commonly found sets featuring two- to four-place settings and in their period box between $30.00 and $40.00.

Actually, these values are high compared to commonly found Japanese children’s tea sets offered for sale on eBay.  Many sets with opening bid requests of under $10.00 fail to attract a bidder.  Occasionally, a set will reach the $20.00 to $25.00 range.  If patient, one can buy boxed examples in fine or better condition between $15.00 and $18.00.

The real value of your tea set is what it means to you personally.  Enjoy it and share it with your heirs.

QUESTION: I own a Model U-10 RCA Victor combination radio and phonograph.  It has six push buttons and is in working order.  What is it worth?  --  D, Wausau, WI

ANSWER: Marty & Sue Bunis’ Collector’s Guide to Antique Radios, Fourth Edition (Collector Books, 1997; 248 pages, $18.95) has this listing: “U-10, table-R/P, 1940, wood, right front slide rule dial, left cloth grill, pushbuttons, three knobs, lift top, inner phono, BC, 5 tubes, AC…$25.00-$30.00.”

I found a picture of your radio on http://archives.radioattic.com/images/r/RCA_U-10_Houston.jpg.  The website www.agtannenbaum.com offers a copy of a 1939 service manual for the U-10 for $11.00.

In my travels, I find many examples of collectibles that I think are very much under appreciated.  Your RCA U-10 combination radio and phonograph is an excellent example.  There simply is not strong collector interest in mid-twentieth century combination radio/phonograph units.  As a result, there is little price competition among collectors when they appear on the market.

Just as a historical artifact, your U-10 should have a value well in excess of $50.00.  If I found one in working order for under $50.00, I most likely would be a buyer.  After all, I always am searching for something on which to play the 78 rpm records in my collection.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth century.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049.  You also can e-mail your questions to rinkeron@fast.net.  Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

Home & Garden Television (HGTV) currently lists COLLECTOR INSPECTOR as on hiatus from January 1 through March 30, 2005.  Whether or not it returns as reruns in April depends entirely on HGTV.
 

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