1889 Singer VS2 - Time Capsule

Acquisition of the VS2

    This sewing machine adventure started as most do with my daily combing of the facebook, craigslist, and other ads looking for sewing machines.  I started my search in Facebook with a pretty narrow distance and not much showed up but I kept scrolling down to the "results outside your area" section.  As I continued to scroll I came across this ad that had one picture (below) of a very nice VS2 with Red/White Roses, Daisies, and Forgetmenots decals.  As usual, the picture was good enough to tell that the machine was great shape but not good enough to really know how nice.

     The machine was in Allentown PA which is almost a 5 hour drive (one way) from my house.  I hem-and-hawed for a day or so whether to pursue.  Price wasn't an issue since it was priced very well....it was more the distance and the fact that I already have a 1889 VS2 with Roses/Daisies/Forgetmenots decals that in decent shape.  I discussed it with my spouse and we finally decided to give a call to inquire on the machine.  Surprisingly, the machine was being sold by a varity store in a mall.  I made the call (on a Monday) and talked to a store representative named Kevin and he told me that he was holding the machine for someone else and I was second in line.  At this point I was thinking "Oh no!....I waited too long!".  Kevin said that he was giving his potential buyer until the end of day on Wednesday to show up and purchase the machine.  In the meantime, I asked Kevin to send me some addtitional picutres.  The pictures revealed that the machine was in exception condition.  Now my heart sank even further as I beat myself up for waiting too long to call.  Needless to say the next 2 1/2 days were very painful.  I couldn't sleep very well thinking "There is no way this other person is not going to show up for this machine".  Wednesday finally arrived and I texted Kevin "Any updates from your first buyer?"....but got no response.  Now I'm thinking "it's sold".  I waited and waited what seem to be an enterity.  Kevin finally texted me back about a 1/2 hour be before the store closed.  "The first buyer hasn't contacted me so you can have it" he said.  I was so excited!  I immediately called the store and paid for the machine via credit card to claim my ownership.  

   Given that Allentown PA is almost 5 hours away I planned to take a roadtrip in the next coming days to pick it up.  As I started planning my trip I remembered that my son (yes, the same son who just delivered the V1 #40 cabinet to me from GA at Thanksgiving) was coming back up from GA for Christmas.  Normally he wouldn't come close to Allentown when traveling to Pittsburgh, but in this case he and his girlfriend were traveling to her parents house outside of Philadelphia first.  Without hesitation my son said "Sure, I'll pick it up for you" (what a great son!)  He was driving up on Saturday and was planning to drive to our house on Sunday.  Luckily, the store was open from noon to 5pm on Sundays!  My son drives a Kia Forte so I knew the machine was going to have to be disassembled to fit in his car.  Now I was nervous wondering if it would actually fit! 

     Of course because I'm always searching for sewing machine deals....I found an additional machine for sale 10 minutes away from my son's girlfriends parent's house.  This was a 1881 Singer Model 12.  It's not pretty, but I mostly wanted it for parts(and it was dirt cheap).  So, I made arrangements and my son picked it up on his way to pick up the VS2.

     Anyway, long story short, my son picked up the  VS2 machine/cabinet and had no issues fitting it in his car.  He safely arrived at our house Sunday evening.

      Condition of the VS2

      At first in person visual inspection, my jaw hit the floor.  Not only was the machine in pristine condition the cabinet is also in pristine condition!  It almost looks like this machine was never used.  This machine is a time capsule and I think this is a true view into what this machine would look like back in 1889.

     There are a several reasons why I think this machine is original and not a restored machine.

   1)  The condition of the decals is ridiculous and I've never known this decal set to have been reproduced

   2)  There is some minor cracking in the shellac on the machine body which would be appropriate for a machine of this age.  You can see it in some of the pictures at the bottom of this post.

   3)  The screw heads on the machine show no marring on the screw heads at all....which would indicate they had never been unscrewed.

   4)  The cabinet top has some very minor checking in the shellac and veneer.  This would most likely be caused by minor shrinking of the subsrate.

5)  The drawer slides show no wear and the inside of the drawers themselves show little to no wear.

6)  The center drawer still has the tiny brad drawer stops in place which is very rare.   

     For all of these reasons along with my experiences in restoring sewing machines and cabinets lead me to believe that this machine/cabinet saw little to no use for 132 years.

    Getting the VS2 working

    The machine was very stiff.  It did rotate but not well.  It almost looked like it hadn't been oiled after it left the factory.  See the pics below with the face plate and back inspection cover removed.  As you can see....this machine was not oiled over and over and over which indicates it's lack of use over the years.  I went through my normal oiling procedure and as soon as I hit the back oil hole on the arm (closest to the handwheel) the machine immediately spun like a top.  Now it spins effortlessly and it's extremely quiet.  The stitch length adjuster was frozen but was quickly freed up with Blue Creeper penatrating oil.

     On the body of the machine, I gave it a quick dusting and wipe down with sewing machine oil and the results were amazing.  That little clean up made the machine look like new!  I also spent the last day or so cleaning up the cabinet and irons.  The results on the cabinet and iron were equally amazing.  The pictures below are the results.  Other than that, all I did was put a new belt on the machine.  

     I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to own this machine.  I believe it will be the closest I'll ever come to owning a "new" VS2.   I've taken many pictures to display the detail of the machine and cabinet.  Please enjoy the pictures below and feel free to post any comments or questions.