Older Than Dirt

This is my 1870-1872 Wertheim Superba Model B. This example is a functioning original with the case, manual, and shuttle. I’ll be doing a full write up on the company and their machines in a few months, a lot more research is required though. Lucky for me, I have been able to retrace a few of this machine’s steps back to 1952. Only half of its life. We will start from the beginning with what I know.

For reasons I’ll explain later, I can’t be sure of the exact year that this machine was manufactured, but it is serial number 4499. Wertheim didn’t seem to start mass production on their machines until 1873 when they expanded their staff, capacity before this was between 5,000 and 10,000 units depending on where you find this information. Judging by the manual, this machine was bound for export from Germany to England.

From this point until the 1950’s, I have nothing on the history. Then comes an old receipt. It was serviced in 1952 by Jones Sewing Machine in Manchester U.K. for someone by the name of Fontaine in Leeds. Some time after that the machine took a ride the United States, and has spent almost 70 years working it’s way to me since it was last given care.

There is a horrifying reason that it is so hard to find information on this beautiful machine, and outstanding company. Wertheim was rapidly expanding in the late 19th century and early 20th century, expanding their Frankfurt plant, opening a distribution facility in Spain and a piano factory in Australia. At the height of their growth, in the 1920’s and 1930’s, the writing was on the wall. One of Wertheim’s co-founders was Jewish. The owners with their families and many employees fled to Spain in the early 1930’s, leaving their factory behind. Little by little, the government acquired and liquidated the equipment in the factory, demolished the building, and officially deleted the company records in 1940.

To me, it is more than a sewing machine. This harmless machine and it’s makers stood the test of time, when many other things and ideologies could not. Fanaticism, fear, and hate have tried to wipe this machine from existence. They failed. I am proud to own and to have restored this machine to working condition. It doesn’t shout, it doesn’t click, it quietly and peacefully hums it’s refusal to quit. And will do so for many years to come.

-Patrick