The Home Beautiful: A Sewing Machine, 1880

Sewing Machine, 1880
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This gorgeous creation had a decidedly practical purpose as a sewing machine. Made of cast iron, it is japanned in black and gold, with a label, engraved:  “The arm and platform machine London E.Ward's patent.” The side facing the sewer is heavily ornamented while the reverse is plain.

This machine was made in Great Britain around 1880.  The fact that it’s so attractive owes to the ingenuity of the age.  After all, the function of the machine does not lend itself to beauty.  It’s an irregular shape of an uninspiring material.  However, makers of such machines knew that adorning the machines with painted designs was essential their machines were to take their place in the Victorian interior.

The Home Beautiful: A Sewing Machine, 1880

Sewing Machine, 1880
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This gorgeous creation had a decidedly practical purpose as a sewing machine. Made of cast iron, it is japanned in black and gold, with a label, engraved:  “The arm and platform machine London E.Ward's patent.” The side facing the sewer is heavily ornamented while the reverse is plain.

This machine was made in Great Britain around 1880.  The fact that it’s so attractive owes to the ingenuity of the age.  After all, the function of the machine does not lend itself to beauty.  It’s an irregular shape of an uninspiring material.  However, makers of such machines knew that adorning the machines with painted designs was essential their machines were to take their place in the Victorian interior.

Unusual Artifacts: The Alhambra Ticket Machine, 1902

Ticket Machine
Accurate Check Taker Limited
England, 1902
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This is an interesting thing. Built in 1902, this machine was installed at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square in London. It was designed to issue two differently-shaped tokens made of zinc or aluminum-oxide. The tokens would serve as tickets to the theatre’s pit or stalls. Tokens and machine were made by the firm Accurate Check Taker Limited of Covent Garden and Soho from 1902 until 1944.

When a person paid for admission, the handle on the machine was turned in one direction for tickets to the pit and another direction for tickets to the stalls. Each token would be deposited from the vertical columns into the receptacle at the base.

As the individual went to his seat, he would hand his token to the usher. Sometimes the tokens were collected on a rod or a string. The used tokens would be returned to the box office where they were compared against the machine’s counter. The machine itself is made of oak with metal compartments, brass cylinders and flaps. The storage for each type of ticket is marked—PIT and STALLS.