Willcox & Gibbs Sewing machine - cast iron, wood

A highly decorative, antique Willcox & Gibbs sewing machine. Not tested, so functioning is unknown. Visually the machine appears complete. The drive belt is nearly torn and would need replacement if you actually want to use it. But in any case, this is a rare, very decorative sewing machine from the Victorian era.

Willcox & Gibbs, rotating chain stitch machine with single thread. The Willcox and Gibbs Sewing Machine Co. (New York) was founded in 1857 by James Willcox and his son Charles of Philadelphia and James E.A. Gibbs from Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Gibbs patented his first practical rotating chain stitch machine with a single thread for household use in 1856. Willcox was a progressive businessman and led production. He brought in the Providence, Rhode Island-based company of J.R. Brown and Lucian Sharpe, who started fabricating the machines.
Work began in early 1858 with the casting of frames by the local New England Butt Company. J.R. Brown and Sharpe faced problems, and it took 8 months before the first 50 Willcox & Gibbs machines, out of the original 100 orders, were ready. Fortunately, the machine was an immediate success and orders soon poured in.
A few years after its founding, Willcox & Gibbs opened its London office at 135 Regent Street. Prices for the machines ranged from £8 to £15. All machine heads were built and shipped from the United States, but some handwheels and wheel fittings were cast at the Coalbrookdale Company in Shropshire. The Coalbrookdale factory near Telford was known in the Victorian era for producing high-quality, elegant iron castings, and the wheel fittings made there bear a registration mark from 1869. A special Willcox & Gibbs hand-drive mechanism was produced for the European market, but the overall form of the machine remained the same throughout the production period.

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