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Alex has spent a lifetime in the sewing industry and is considered one of the foremost experts of pioneering machines and their inventors. He has written extensively for trade magazines, radio, television, books and publications world wide. |
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Josef Wertheim & Co
The Superba Sewing Machine is one of those names that crops up from time to time and I have always been fascinated by it. I will tell you what I know but cannot guarantee it is all 100% accurate. It is just learnt from a lifetime in the trade and stumbling across bits and pieces. The Superba is one of the names given to several Victorian machines. Adler and Haid & Neu may have also produced a Superba. Also Davies Sewing Machine Co of America used the Superba name on one of their early models. However, the most likely Superba that you will come across was made by Josef Wertheim & Co of Frankfurt, Germany. They produced the Superba (models A, B, C, D and E).
Now it gets a bit tricky for we have Wertheim machines produced in Spain and possibly Australia as well as Germany. I shall try and explain but don’t worry if I make a mess, it won’t be the first time. The sewing machine firm of ’Wertheim’ was founded in 1868 by Joseph Wertheim. Joseph was the Frankfurt city delegate for the Democratic Party and, as a business man, was looking to invest in the future. Sewing machines were the latest technology. Some people saw them as almost magical and shows were set up where you could pay to see a sewing machine work its magic and join two or more pieces of fabric together simply by turning a handle. The factory was a great success and grew and grew. Within a few short years, Wertheim sewing machines gained a reputation for being among the best quality that was available. At its height, the factory employed around 650 people.
The firm’s logo originally had a dwarf with a hammer; however this was replaced much later by a Star of David.
Complete machines were imported and sold there until 1915, when production of a fully Spanish Wertheim machine was commenced. The German plant produced their first model around 1869. It was Model A a direct Elias Howe copy probably under licence from America.
My favourite is the model B which was a beautiful fiddlebase model almost identical to the Singer New Family model 12 of 1865 but made by Wertheim around 1870-90. I have one in my collection from the Glyndeborne Opera House in East Sussex. The base was riddled with woodworm when they phoned me. I was delighted to take it of their hands.
The Models C-D were high-arm transverse shuttle models much like the Singer 48k produced around 1890-1910.
The early models B-D machines uses the same needle as the Singer 12. The main agent and exporter in England for some time was John G Murdoch of Farringdon Road, London. The Superba Sewing Machine high-arm transverse-shuttle model of 1890 Wertheim model D. There is some question as to who made this Superba, Hengstenberg may have produced this model for Wertheim as it has their winder and decoration on the right side of the hand wheel cover.
John G Murdoch John G Murdoch originally had premises at 41 Castle Street before moving to larger premises with showrooms at 91-93 Farringdon Road, London. Just north of the River Thames in East Central London. The building sold not only sewing machines but everything including prams, violins and bibles. In fact their Family Bible which sold for over £4 in 1900, a small fortune, was their best seller, selling over 30,000 bibles a year! WOW. With his enormous wealth John G Murdoch went on to collect one of the finest collections of British coins in the world which,in 1903, sold for the equivalent of over 100 million pounds in todays money. After John G Murdoch died his family carried on with their cheap violins and went into the record business founding the Beltona Label.
One little point to mention is that I have came across a few much later Superba machines possibly made around 1920-30’s that looked very much like the Singer model 17/27 but with the same shuttle as the Singer 12 and an even later model E using the Singer 15 system and 705 needle.
Wertheim Australia Now Murdoch & Co, the importers and agents, were a British company with an Australian subsidiary with premises in Melbourne and Canberra, Australia. They also sold musical instruments which is a funny mix but it makes sense and I will explain why. I would love to have walked into their shop in London to hear music and see sewing machines.
Later on in Australia Josef Wertheim machines were also distributed by Hugo Wertheim (Josef’s nephew) who emigrated there in 1875 aged 21. Hugo was born on 12 July 1854 at Lispenhausen, in the German electorate of Hesse-Kassel, son of Meyer Wertheim and his wife Minna, née. Hugo was born into wealth and had travelled extensively before deciding that Australia had everything he would ever need. In 1874 Hugo married his cousin Sophie Emilie and brought his new wife to Melbourne aboard the SS Great Britain. Initially he set about advertising and selling German Wertheim machines across Australia from premises at 39 Flinders Lane East. I am not sure if both John Murdoch and Hugo were both selling Wertheim machines in Australia at the same time or if the agency was handed to Hugo as part of the family! Well blood is thicker than water unless you have drunk a bottle of gin! Hugo Wertheim originally was just an agent for Josef Wertheim and initially he imported harmoniums, pianos, bicycles and sewing machines and also began to import Electra bicycles, Hapsburg Pianos, described in his brochures as Sweet Hapsburg Pianos and organs.
Hugo also displayed in his showrooms the latest 'Patented Wertheim Home Wringer and Mangle'. Just the perfect way to spend an afternoon wringing out clothes! Ah how they lived then. The good old days.
From what I can ascertain most of Hugo's goods that he later had made in Australia were direct copies of his European counterparts. Of course few manufacturers from America an Europe bothered to take out patent protection in Australia so copying would be no problem.
Hugo opened showrooms in Bourke Street and Collins Streets. Wertheim initially re-badged his imported pianos as "The Planet" and "Habsburg". Hugo opened premises at 173 William Street, Melbourne. There was also a sales outlet at 107 Rundle Street, Adelaide. He soon established a successful business and was apparently an excellent salesman. While researching Wertheim I have come across seven addresses so he moved around!
It became obvious that importing machines from across the world was no easy task. Communications were slow and laborious and stock was impossible to get right. Can you imagine with Victorian communications trying to get the correct stock from one side of the world to another. When the supply ship arrived it was probably carrying too much of some stuff and not enough of others. Hugo would have to wait months for more replacements. Something had to be done. To make or not to make that is the question? The answer was to manufacture the goods that he was importing. Now some say that Wertheim sewing machines were not made in Australia and some say of course they were, the 400 plus workers at the factory could not just have been making pianos and prams. I don't know the real answer yet. It seem obvious that they were manufacturing sewing machines but as yet I have no positive proof. If you have any evidence please mail me.
By the turn of the century, Wertheim sent his eldest son, Herbert, to learn the piano manufacturing trade in the United States and tour the continent before returning to run the new Melbourne enterprise. His newly gained knowledge would have been a terrific boost to the designs of their own goods.
In 1903 Hugo opened new retail depots at 296 Bourke Street, Melbourne, and 175 Chapel Street, Prahran. The Wertheim Piano Factory was built in Bendigo Street, Richmond in 1908 and became an enduring landmark in the area. The new factory cost some £75,000, intending to produce 2000 pianos a year. There must be a fair number of them still playing away today.
It is said that Dame Nellie Melba would not perform on stage unless she was accompanied on a Wertheim piano! WOW. Fussy or what! In Brisbane, the Wertheim Company set up a showroom in Queen Street near the Customs House. They sold and serviced pianos and sewing machines there until the late 1920s. The factory and business was a huge success and at its height his factory in Richmond employed over 400 people. Many Wertheim pianos and sewing machines survive to this day in Australia and there is a lot of information on him and his machines available online so I won’t bore you here. I believe Hugo Wertheim died in 1919 and was buried in Brighton Cemetery. The piano factory finally closed in 1935. After the First World War any German name was frowned upon and few people bought German products. The solution for the Wertheim sewing machines were to be renamed The American National. There is some talk that the Wertheim Company did import sewing machines from America for a short period possibly from National. Wertheim Germany Back to Superba and the German Wertheim factory. All the Superba sewing machines made by Wertheim in Germany were of top quality and the name Superba survived for decades.
Wertheim also produced many models with there own brand name across the arm and carried on with model numbers relating to the alphabet A-M. production slowing down like many German manufacturers after the slump in sales post World War One (no one wanted to buy anything from Germany) but carrying on with minor exports, especially to South America. So if you have a Wertheim Superba you are the proud owner of a fabulous piece of early German engineering to the highest of standards. They say in 1900 a Superba would cost six months wages! Work that out today and you see why they have lasted so long.
In the Planet 'M' Model was introduced prior to the first world war and was equivalent to the Singer Model 27 vibrating shuttle machine. Wertheim also produced other models such as, Electra, Planet, Griffin (above) and Hapsburg.In Australia there were names like Triplex, Family, Saturn and Electra. The End Well that is all I know about Wertheim but if you have anything to add I would love to hear from you.
Hi Alex
I have just been reading your Wertheim site and thought you might like some further information about Hugo and his Australian business. His factory in Richmond Victoria is still in existence and after he closed it it became a tomato sauce factory and finally the Victorian headquarters of the channel 9 television station from 1956 until this year when they finally vacated to new premises. The factory will probably become some sort of housing development if the building is to survive or it will be demolished which would be a shame. Hugo Wertheim is also the great grandfather of the former Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett, whose grandfather manufactured ladders, Jeff himself had an advertising business before he went into politics.
Hope this is of interest to you.
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