This Website is a family history, is a generation after generation collecting rare objects!
From ” The Toy Stitcher, Journal of Toy Stitcher International, Inc. “
A brief history about how everything started, about the collector and the collection in itself.
Aldo Nava started collecting toy sewing machines in the 1990´s. He had one in the house for quite a while and when he and his family moved, their toy sewing machine moved with them as a knick-knack. Eventually he became curios about TSMs. However, his collecting bug started long before that with a collection of worldwide steel helmets. He had gathered more than 400 helmets before he ran out of room to store them. The helmets were sold and a new collection began. This one consisted of badges from the kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Italy, the Italian Social Republic, Kaiserlich und Koniglich (Imperial and Royal) Austria, and the United Kingdom and dominions.
Then one fateful day at a flea market in Biella he saw a “Co Milano” toy sewing machine; that day was the end of the badges and the beginning of the toy sewing machine collection. The TSM collection includes only old fashioned, metal machines ; there are no new or plastic machine among them. One foggy day during a snow storm Aldo stopped in a second hand shop and found a silver plated Smith and Edge. He likes all of his toy sewing machines; they are all nice and beloved, but his favorite is the one he will find tomorrow. Most of Aldo´s machines have been found in flea markets in his area of Italy.
In Piedmont there are two sorts of flea markets.The Saturday markets are usually held in the centuries old market area of a town each week. The Saturday market in Torino is called Balon or Strassburg, where Strass mean rags. He visit the Balon market each Saturday from midnight to ten o´clock in the morning . This means ten hours of walking! The Sunday markets, which are held only once or twice a year, are in little town far from Torino and he needs to drive to them. He gets to these Sunday markets at five in the morning and stays for five or six hours. The markets in these little towns are interesting because they are near vey old churches or castles. He says this is a pleasure for the collection, the mind and the stomach. At seven o´clock it is possible to get a breakfast of wine, bread, salami, and cheese.
Aldo lived in Torino, the capital of Piedmont, in Italy. He was a retired railway man, was married and had three daughters. Torino is a city with many museums. castles and splendid old palaces. It boasts that it has the best Egyptian museum outside of Cairo. Aldo´s dream was to become so rich that he will be able to open a sewing machine museum. He says ” A dream is a dream, but it helps to live. Without a dream, a man is dead. “
(Interview from the : ” The Toy Stitcher, Journal of Toy Stitcher International, Inc. ” )
Pictures, videos, researches by Francesco Cerutti Nava, grandson of Aldo Nava.
CONTACT : INFO.TOYSEWINGMACHINES@GMAIL.COM
Toy Sewing Machines 