“Dangerous” Vickers VS hand-cranked sewing machine, late 1920s.

This machine is one of my favourites, and for all the wrong reasons. While Mr. Singer and just about every other manufacturer did everything possible to sell machines to the “lady-of-the-house” with ornate decoration and sewing tables that looked like domestic furniture, this Vickers machine has “DANGER” engraved on its forward-reverse lever. Yessss..!

But given their history in the field of armaments, not surprising. During 1914 the Vickers company made the decision to diversify into sewing machine production and so they established a small factory for this purpose in Hackney Wick, London. With the outbreak of WW1 the factory was taken over for armaments production. At the end of WW1 Vickers sewing machines began being produced at the company’s large Crayford Works. These were initially distributed by W. Piersenne of 24/25 Fore Street, London. Before the war Pierssene had been the U.K. distributor of the German Frister & Rossmann machines.

The first Vickers model is clearly very similar to a Frister & Rossmann design, and with the prevailing sentiment of the time it was not long before Frister & Rossmann disappeared as a brand in the UK. Regrettably, the production of Vickers sewing machines at Crayford didn't last very long either. An 1929 advert shows E. Harris & Co. of Lincoln House, 296-302 High Holborn, London, WC1 as being the 'Sole Manufacturer' of the Vickers machine. E. Harris had a factory at the junction of Morden Road and Lombard Road, London SW19. Although the Vickers name continued is use by Harris’s for some years, it was later dropped in favour of BSM (British Sewing Machines).

The machine on offer is a Vickers VS vibrating shuttle machine with the 6th. style of decoration from the late 1920s (central crown transfer). It is a technically improved machine compared to the ornately-decorated Vickers Modèle de Luxe. The paintwork is nice and glossy and the transfers clear and bright. The nickel plating is in good condition. The machine is complete with bobbin & shuttle and sews well. The base is in good condition with an inset ruler and lidded compartment for accessories - there is a spare bobbin. The lid for the base is missing (or as Vickers might have put it, gone AWOL). The machine serial number is 11504. 

No buy-it-now, but feel free to bid, or make an offer through the e-bay system.

Overseas buyers welcome. Will be well-packed for shipment.

Update - I've found the original Instruction Manual which will accompany the machine.