Antique Singer sewing machines of the 27-28 variety, and the 15 variety had special toolboxes that came with them, when they were brand new, back in the 1880s and 1890s. Made of wood, rectangular in shape, with a square cross-section, these boxes held all the main tools and accessories that one of these machines would need: Bobbins, needles, screwdrivers, various attachments and bits and pieces which were vital to the smooth operation of the sewing machine.
Made from 1889 until about 1910, these wooden boxes, called “puzzle boxes”, by collectors, are relatively rare. Rare, because they were made for a short period of time, and rare because they were only made for two different types of Singer machines.
A few years back, I bought, and have since filled up – a puzzle box for my Singer 28 portable machine.
Since then, I got my hands on another sewing machine…
…which is a Singer 15, the only other model of Singer machine for which a puzzle box was made.
After cleaning, fixing and restoring this machine, I thought:
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if I had a puzzle box for this, too?”
Then I thought:
“Yeah. Right…”
Then about two weeks ago, I saw this…
That’s right! Another puzzle box!
It was empty, but it was cheap, so I snapped it up at once! I brought it home and started filling it up. So far, I’ve put in a screwdriver (left), a tucker (far right), a full packet of needles (far right, again), and a ruffler (Inner-right, top).
There’s still quite a few pieces missing (compare with upper box), but the main piece missing is the rack for the bobbins. Fortunately, this can be homemade. Bobbin racks for Singer 15 puzzle-boxes were shaped out of thin, steel wire, and once I’ve got the wire, I reckon it’ll be easy to shape it and simply screw it into place. Singer 15 puzzle boxes are even rarer than the 28 ones, or so I believe. I can’t wait to get this filled up and complete!
As Fats Waller said: “I’ve got my fingers crossed…”
I wish those boxes had been made in UK. As far as I’m aware they were only made in the US. We seem to have only had cardboard boxes for the attachments. It would have been great to have a box for my 1895 28k and 1904 27k but it would not be true to the original – though I know things over the years moved around a bit and were sold on and substituted.
Hi Anne. To my understanding, PBs were made in America, but not Britain, and were exported from America around the world along with the machines. Friends of mine who run a sewing machine museum have told me that fully-stocked boxes with all their original parts are very hard to find, and that the boxes were only made for 20 or 30 years.
I have one of those boxes also. My grandma has several old sewing machines and before I knew what it was I kinda just dumped all the pieces out and kept the box (all pieces are still together with machine) I was curious as to how many of these were made and how many were still around? And of course are they worth anything? Personally I just love the box it self, and thought about making it into a jewelry box for myself, but if it’s really valuable then maybe I’ll get all the pieces out back and use the money to buy a nice jewelry box.
Thanks,
Just Curious