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Old Style Oil Bottle
would use a cork for a stopper
Newer style Singer Oil bottle...note that this one has a screw-on lid.
The Following Compliments of Sharon Reese:
The smaller two oil cans say "Singer" on the front. I've seen a picture of this oil can in Singer's "Short Cuts to Home Sewing" by Mary Brooks Pickens, c. 1928 (p. 15). I have also been told that these will fit in a bracket in the upper portion of many bentwood Singer cases which would date them in the 1920's and 1930's.
The middle oil can is my proof that polite persistence pays off. I found it at a Goodwill in an old Montgomery Ward's sewing machine cabinet. (The SM didn't interest me). I stood in line and asked the supervisor if I could buy it separately. She said it had to go to the back to be priced, so I couldn't. I didn't argue because it was 5 minutes to closing and many people were behind me in line. I decided to try again another day.
A couple of days later, I went again and talked to the same lady. I told her that the oil can didn't go with the SM because it was MW while the oil can was for a Singer (glad she didn't question my logic : )! ). She said it had to be priced separately. I asked for someone to price it. She said the pricing people had left for the day. Went back and forth a little more. She finally turned to end the conversation, and in desperation, I said, "Sorry to have kept pushing, but I'm a collector, and I consider this to be a collectible that's worth something to me. I'm just afraid that someone will buy the machine and toss the can because it's an empty can." It worked!! She said she could understand that, so she grabbed a pricing gun, and we agreed to $4.99. I thanked her several times and left very happy.
This oil can was made in 1956.