On heirloom machines, and old men's joys.

It just might be possible that the petite Singer sewing machine I unearthed from my mother's storage has existed at the same time as Henry Ford's Model-T.

And it still can sew.

The Singer dealer-scholar James and I brought the piece to last Saturday confirmed so.

the momment we stepped into his shop, a couple of jeepney stops from my place, he stood up and rushed over to us. "That's a beautiful machine you got there!", he exclaimed.

You had to be there to see it. The enthusiasm and the joy on his face was priceless.

He marveled how beautiful the faceplate and the body was, and how the nmotor and its rubber belt was still intact. He asked us, "does it still light up?". apparently, we weren't aware that the curved hatch facing the seamstress (or couturier, depending on what flavor you'd prefer) was supposed to house a lightbulb to make sewing viable under the dim lights of a turn-of-the-century evening. He was even amazed how big the outlet on the machine was.

He told us the bobbin case and the foot plate of this particular model were not manufactured anymore. Even the model itself was not manufactured anymore, promptly stopped after a good number came out.

Singer Manufacturing Company never reproduced it again.

He gave us a quick history of the company. It first began as I.M. Singer & Co. in 185i in the United States, then was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865. It branched out for production in Britain and Canada a few decades after, then was renamed Singer Company when it began production in Japan, India, the Philippines, and others.

Underneath the table extension was ironstamped:



He told us he'd check on every part, repair the threader, and make sure everything was in good running order. He also told me that the best thing I could do to do it justice was to put in on display. "Those beauties aren't easy to come by, child," he said. I told him that there was a Brother sewing machine at home that could perform a multiple number of basic stitches (sans manual, though), and he told me to bring that piece along as well, and he'd have his technicians clean it. He'd later call me up to teach me how to use it.

Somehow, I simply trust the man. Joy like that, like what I saw on his face, brings out the honesty and the best in a person.

Can't wait for their call this week.