That’s a snap of a 1939 Singer 99K which we bought in Beckenham last year. When I got that machine home, we found that in the base of it was a receipt made out to a lady who bought it secondhand in Sheffield in 1975. When we’d finished work on it, we put the receipt inside the original instruction book, and you might just be able to see it sticking out the top in this picture, which is the one I used on the blog when I listed this machine for sale.
Before long we sold it to Linda in East Anglia, who named it Vera, and in due course Linda sent us an email, which I quote here by her kind permission …
Hope this finds you both well. I just wanted to say I am still walking around with a smile on my face, and still just love looking at Vera!
In the instruction book was a receipt, for a Mrs Marshall of Sheffield, well we googled the address, and would you believe, it was a Mrs Marshall still living there. There was a phone no….. So I phoned her, and yes she bought Vera in 1975 in Sheffield. She said she had loved her Singer, and had handed it on to her Daughter, and this is where I thought I just might be in trouble, because she said, she did not know her daughter had got rid of it! Whoops! Anyway, she took my phone no…..
She has just phoned me to say, she has spoken to her Daughter, and daughter said, they did not have the room for it, so her Husband took it and DUMPED IT, in a Tip in Newcastle 20 years ago! Amazing, I just hoped I have not caused a Family row! Lovely to know a little of her history.
Isn’t it just? Of course the question now is how on earth it found its way from a tip in Newcastle to a house clearance place in Beckenham …
oldsingersewingmachineblog 
Ah, what a brilliant story! Thanks for sharing.
That produced a fine fit of giggles for a Monday morning!
I reckon some of those on Ebay are the ones the dump rejected …
Beautiful machine, often wondered just how many ‘tipped’ machines end up rescued. Quite a few if the condition of some on ebay is to go by.
Lovely machine. Glad it is being loved now. I can’t imagine not having room for that machine.
I bought my pressure canner years (25-30) ago at a local hardware store. I also have a large and small water bath canner, the smaller one I picked up at a yard sale. I’ve never done oven canning, but I use the oven to sanitize my jars.
I’ve been called a “foodie”, I like to put up some food because of the quality and taste. Nothing like home canned ripe and delicious peaches. Yum!
Last Sept we were lucky enough to visit Scotland, but haven’t made it to England yet. Hope to some day.
Wow, 27 pints! Good for you Becky 🙂 We’d love to try pressure canning but we’ve never been able to find the appropriate pressure vessel at a price we can afford. What we need over here is Lehman’s 😉
I’m glad that Vera has a good home. She’s beautiful.
I wanted to make a remark about the last post. I’m in southwest Missouri, USA and I still do some canning. Made 27 pints of beautiful beef broth a week or so ago. That’s the only way to get good stuff, the store variety is salty and tasteless.
I’m intrigued by the glass lids, they look great. I mainly do pressure canning, it’s faster and easier for me.
Try thinking shinier thoughts whilst polishing?
That’s what I use. Mine never look that shiny though! Thanks!
They’re just wiped with a bit of sewing machine oil on a soft cloth – but don’t tell anybody that:)
Oops! 😉 Well, we all get rid of things sometime in life that we wish we had not. I am curious about one thing though. What do you use to get such a beautiful shine on your machines?
I am happy to think that some worker at the dump recognised a good, solid, reliable piece of machinery for what it was!