Antique Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine with Cabinet and Accessories For Sale

Antique Willcox & Gibbs Treadle Sewing Machine
With Cabinet and AccessoriesThe mechanical parts are in very good condition; the machine appears to work properly when I turn the pulley, and the treadle works the flywheel.The cabinet could use a good cleaning/refinishing.Includes the unusual, original square-tipped key; all the locks on the cabinet work.Also included are the accessories shown in Photo 8, including a total of 7 needles (one in the machine itself and 6 more in the old envelope).Also comes with what\'s left of the original manual, shown in Photo 10, in admittedly rough shape.Missing are:
- The belt to connect the treadle assembly to the pulley on the machine
- One wheel from the bottom of the cabinet, which moves on steel wheels. One of those wheels disappeared over the years. See the top of Photo 12.
- One of the metal inserts on the cabinet top; they\'re used to connect the hooks on the back of the lid to the the cabinet; see the bottom of Photo 12.The knob on the middle drawer is damaged; and the knob on the bottom drawer was replaced before I got it. See Photo 11.Patent dates:
- Sewing Machine: July 4, 1870 through April 17, 1883
- Treadle: August 3, 1870
- Connecting Rod/Flywheel: January 23, 1870History:
In the 1970\'s we bought an old house in Pittsburgh with contents after the last child of the builder passed away. One item in the house was this sewing machine, and it has been in my possession since then. Pittsburgh was the center of the steel industry throughout to 20th century, with so much air pollution that the street lights were on at noon in the 1940\'s. So the machine has a \"Pittsburgh patina\" from its many years there.Since the 1970\'s the machine has been in a dry, non-smoking house. Whether you consider its life before that to be \"non-smoking\" depends on your opinion of Pittsburgh\'s air pollution. But there is no odor (and I remember what the steel mills smelled like).