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Old Gritzners with revers lever

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Old Gritzners with revers lever
« on: November 29, 2017, 19:17:54 PM »
About a month ago I came across a Gritzner with swirly art deco decals; white water lilly flowers with gold and green. I have notice this set of  decals before and the machine it self was in very nice condition. At first the price was a bit high, it was lowered a Sturday I went there, but I still hesitated buying it because it was missing a hand crank and shuttle. It was on a wooden base that looked like it came from a treadle setup, the threadle stand was missing too. I'm guessing it might have come from a treadle table with an option to make the machine a portable as well as treadle. The wood lid (case) and key was with the machine. After the weekend, Monday morning I passed the charity store, went in, I had the money in my pocket but it was gone.

I'm guessing this was a machine made ca 1900 to 1910, possibly WWI; mostly  because of the decals and the shape of the machine. It's a type of VS model.

The intesting thing about it is 3/4 size and a revese stitch length lever. I have search the web up and down and the closest I could find is this, it might be spot on the model but hard to be sure.

Searching the web I have come across this model too. It looks like central bobbin type; but I haven't found any info on it. It has a nice stitch length lever with reverse. I'm sure this is at least a decade or two before Singers model 101, 201 and later 15 were given a stitch length lever. Have any of you had your hands on a similar model?

« Last Edit: November 29, 2017, 22:10:01 PM by arrow »

Roger

Re: Old Gritzners with revers lever
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2017, 20:17:38 PM »
They are lovely! Can’t say I’ve had one, but I can really appreciate why you were tempted!
A bit of a vintage sewing machine nut! Singers: 500a, 401g, 48k Elnas: lotus SP & grasshopper, Bernina 530-2 F+R 504, Pfaff 30, Cresta T-132

SkoutSews

Re: Old Gritzners with revers lever
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2017, 22:27:34 PM »
Arrow, your first link to the Gritzner R looks very much like my old Frister and Rossmann, picked up from a local second-hand shop a couple of years ago. I'll try to post a photo. From the serial number I have dated it 1903-1907. I've tidied it up a bit since the photo and I'm waiting to have the time to use it properly. For the moment it's an ornament. It does have all the necessary bits and seems to be in working order.

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Re: Old Gritzners with revers lever
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2017, 23:03:22 PM »
They are suppose to be very nice machines SkoutSews, but I have yet to actually sew on one. I guess hardly anyone uses hand cranks these days, though there is a quite a few claming to be a fan of them on the web.

Yours is very nice, it has the swirly art nouveau lines and beautiful yellow flowers. Recently I read some where the older machines (before model 66) had a double tug in the feed dog presser foot action on the fabric, it evens out the stitch in the fabric, but I have yet to see this first hand in a machine. I haven't found anything on the models with stitch length lever and revese, but there seem to be a connection between the German brands and development of related models like these: Frister & Rossman and Gritzner are mentioned as two of them.
 
« Last Edit: November 29, 2017, 23:31:00 PM by arrow »

SkoutSews

Re: Old Gritzners with revers lever
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2017, 23:16:26 PM »
One of these days I'll have the time to try it out and discover if it has that function in the feed mechanism. In the meantime I just like to look at it! I was told that the previous owner used it frequently and it seems to be running smoothly.