Sewing machine

This, dear readers, is a very old sewing machine.  A Wheeler & Wilson, dated to around 1857, and in appaling condition.

What happened was (there's always a story), Saturday morning I was poking around in the brick shed at the back of Old Government House, and I pulled out a cabinet and opened it up - to discover this!  The treadle mechanism seems to be missing, but it could well be there in another box.  All I have to do is find it.  I had no idea the machine was there, and it just goes to show how urgent it is to actually view and catalogue our collection.  

Anyway, the cabinet is filthy and one door had fallen off - so a colleague took the door home to clean it, and it's only flame mahogany!!!

We are so desperate for more space, in particular space where we can take these treasures and clean them up a bit.  Then we can perhaps work out where we are going to display it.