They didn’t have the machine tools we have today, and yet they did some incredible work. It’s a passion of mine to see the way people thought, going back to the 1800s, and the sort of engineering they devised. Some machines survive to this day and some were inherently no good to start with. I’m drawn to mechanical design and how people thought up different features. I’m more drawn to the ideas in the machines than the country that made them. There are probably 10 very good museum collections around the world. The German museums are a little more mixed. There’s a great museum in England, but most of the machines there are British. I decided to collect from across the world intentionally. On the other hand, I have machines from America, Canada, England, France, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, so my collection is more a worldwide but it also shows cross-influences. Carter only collects American machines, and he has authored the standard book on antique American sewing machines. Probably the best collection in the States is owned by a person named Carter Bays. That makes my collection a little different from most. Collectors Weekly: Do you have sewing machines from all over the world?īerzack: Yes. Initially I brought some machines with me from South Africa, and I picked up one or two here and there over the next few years, but most of the machines-probably 450-plus of them-have been acquired over the last eight years. I have almost 500 sewing machines in my collection. We’ve taken a section of our premises here to create a full museum environment where the machines are on display. We have a museum at our business where I house my collection. Now it’s grown to the point where today I have one of the largest and best collections in the States. Then about eight years ago, I started to have a little more time and I started to get back into it.

Then I immigrated to the States-I’m originally from South Africa-and my new life caused about a 20-year hiatus in which I did very little with sewing machines, although the passion never left. At a very early age, I became interested in sewing machines in a general sense, and I started collecting old machines mainly to see the technology and how it had developed. We mainly distribute industrial sewing machines. I work for a sewing machine distribution company that was started by my late father. We also discussed toy sewing machines made for children. Recently we spoke with Harry about his collection of antique sewing machines, the history of sewing machines, their uses, and the four major manufacturers.

Unlike many collectors in this field, Harry’s 500-piece collection is international in scope. Harry Berzack is a collector of 19th-century and pre-World War II sewing machines.

Atlas sewing machine serial numbers