Singer Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

The Singer Company (1850 - ) was founded in 1850 after Isaac Singer invented the world's first practical sewing machine. The design was patented in 1851. Read the full biography

The Singer Company (1850 - ) was founded in 1850 after Isaac Singer invented the world's first practical sewing machine. The design was patented in 1851. In 1855 the machine won first prize at the Paris Universal Exposition and, in the same year, it was declared the best-selling sewing machine in the world. By 1890 the company had captured 90% of the world's sewing machine market, a remarkable achievement for a company after forty years of existence. It remains the best-selling sewing machine brand to this day. The company began large-scale production as part of the Government's Reserved Commodity Order of the Control of Manufacture Act passed in 1935 to ensure the development of the sewing cotton industry in the west of Ireland. The company has been very successful. This machine is an example of great craftsmanship that comes from a time when clothes were made and repaired out of necessity to what some might argue is today's throwaway culture.