‘Blackside’ Machines

During the period 1941 to 1953 Singer occasionally produced what are known as ‘Blackside’ models. Unlike the standard machines, many of the normally bright plated parts utilised a chemically blacked finish instead. This is thought to have been in response to shortages of nickel and chromium.

It is a characteristic of these machines that there seems to have been no hard and fast rule as to which ‘Blackside’ parts were fitted. Generally needle plates, bobbin covers and faceplates etc. would all be Blackside, but various knobs, levers, screws etc could be either bright or black. At the same time Singer also produced a range of accessories, tools etc and even bobbins that were blackside. Generally blackside components had the same Simanco part numbers as their bright plated counterparts.

‘Crinkle’ Finish Machines

Also in roughly the same period Singer produced some machines with a ‘black crinkle’, ‘black wrinkle’, ‘Godzilla’ finish. Whatever you call them, they are extremely RARE. Research indicates that Singer only produced limited runs of models 66, 99, 128 and 221 with this finish, and these all date from the 1941 to 1953 era. A few exceptionally rare ‘Centennial’ model 99 and 128’s were also produced in 1950 with a crinkle finish and specialist collectors rate these very highly for their rarity value.