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International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society

The purpose of the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society is to foster the collecting of, and research into, sewing machines.

Pfaff Questions Answered

by Graham Forsdyke
ISMACS News
Issue No. 56
July 1997

It's fairly easy to date Singer machines from the serial numbers but other makers cause more problems -- and more questions to the ISMACS mail and internet query services.

Pfaff machines are popular in the USA and until recently we had no way of dating them from serial numbers.

But now ISMACS' Australian representative Brenda Dean has tracked down this comprehensive list from which is should be possible to date all machines made by the Kaiserlauten, Germany, manufacturer from the first machine of 1862

Year Number Year Number Year Number
1862 1 1900 473000 1938 3422440
1863 6 1901 518000 1939 3575892
1864 46 1902 563000 1940 3652814
1865 115 1903 609000 1941 3706260
1866 196 1904 655000 1942 3738772
1867 306 1905 709000 1943 3759057
1868 556 1906 763000 1944 3773724
1869 906 1907 828000 1945 3776641
1870 1396 1908 903000 1946 3789232
1871 1906 1909 983000 1947 3810796
1872 2906 1910 1053684 1948 3849151
1873 4406 1911 1129645 1949 3950972
1874 7206 1912 1212819 1950 4000000
1875 9900 1913 1294245 1951 4411077
1876 13200 1914 1352714 1952 4671523
1877 17200 1915 1397859 1953 4910633
1878 23200 1916 1444963 1954 5000000
1879 29400 1917 1477429 1955 5466285
1880 37900 1918 1494809 1956 5174992
1881 46900 1919 1524339 1957 6000000
1882 56000 1920 1566186 1958 6222102
1883 63000 1921 1630792 1959 6434932
1884 70500 1922 1701177 1960 7000000
1885 76000 1923 1727077 1961 7219268
1886 80500 1924 1800238 1962 7524237
1887 85000 1925 1894135 1963 7902358
1888 91500 1926 1981976 1964 8000000
1889 99500 1927 2094437 1965 8329220
1890 118000 1928 2221369 1966 8585390
1891 143000 1929 2361537 1967 8788456
1892 173000 1930 2487829 1968 28979938
1893 203000 1931 2578959 1969 29149550
1894 238000 1932 2659351 1970 29417380
1895 273000 1933 2744510 1971 30052400
1896 308000 1934 2851984 1972 30205884
1897 348000 1935 2974097 1973 30380765
1898 388000 1936 3116391 1974 30549469
1899 428000 1937 3266741 1975 30714806

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