Tracking down information about my mother's old American Beauty - or ANY American Beauty has been a challenge. At the beginning of my quest, "American Beauty" was NOT listed on any of the Sewing Machine collector's lists I'd seen online. There was an obscure reference I found with Google that states in part: "A sewing machine named 'American Beauty' that was made in Japan would not be allowed as it would be a misleading trademark" (paraphrased, more on this below). As I know that my mother's machine WAS an "American Beauty" and it WAS made in Japan - this lead me to believe that they were not imported under the American Beauty name for very long. As it turns out, this assumption was wrong. My mother purchased her American Beauty mail order in about 1957. The American Beauty
I inquired of the American Beauty Tool Company, longtime makers of soldering irons and similar equipment to find out if they had any relationship with American Beauty sewing machines. Turns out they did not, their business has always been with appliances that generate heat; their soldering irons (I have one from the 40's!) and the famous American Beauty laundry irons - but not sewing machines.
As time went on, I found out more. Most, but not all, "American Beauty" machines show up in one of two liveries - the well remembered painted on script font with a rose on the bed as my mother's machine had. The second livery consists of a metal badge reading "American Beauty" with a crown above the name. It was NOT at all obvious at for the longest time that these two liveries were indicative of the same company. Through the contributions of quite a number of contributers who kindly came forward, I can now definitively state that these Japanese American Beauty sewing machines were all imported by a company called Birginal-Bigsby, who purchased them from a variety of sources.
As this research is on-going, I'd *LOVE* to hear from any and all who have an "American Beauty" sewing machine, or know something about them. Pictures are always a welcome plus!
However, before continuing with the story of the Birginal-Bigsby machines, it turns out that they apparently weren't the originator of the name "American Beauty". Indeed the experts at the
Needlebar site, "American Beauty" is NOT a registered trademark so "anyone can use it".
I'm told by several sewing machine experts that this is a badged machine made by National - thanx to my contribution, the online database at the
Returning to the Birginal-Bigsby machines, there was this curious machine from that importer that was on eBay:
Another National-built American Beauty, probably much newer than the first.The seller's ad read in part: From the research I was able to do, during the late 30s and early 40s, there was a company in Ohio that manufactured a series of machine heads and used motors from China. The series were marketed under different names, one of them being American Beauty. This is an entirely gear-driven machine.
American Beauty with the riveted badge. A Singer 15 clone - a manual for these clones built by Happy and many other makers over many years, is available
The foot pedal just happens to be the same color as my mother's machine!
I'm somewhat skeptical of this information - at least as it would apply to this particular machine, especially the date. I have good reason to believe that the machines with the name painted on them were from the 1950s, whereas the ones with riveted badges were later production. This is from a (quite knowledgeable) contributer who told me the styling of the differing machines suggested these time periods. As class 15 "clones" were - and are still - made by many makers worldwide, the presence of the riveted badge strongly suggests the 1960s, despite the antique styling. An interesting machine regardless!
By sheer accident, I ran across this old White on eBay:
It was a remarkable coincidence that I stumbled upon these pictures - but they got my complete attention because this is the EXACT same machine as my Mother's American Beauty, except for the color and branding. It had been somewhere between 30 and 35 years since I last saw it, but I'd recognize this machine anywhere. I spent many hours watching my mother sew on her's, this is it no question.
Chrome/transparent door was for various stitch pattern cams. Picture resolution disallows identifying the motor's country of origin.
Its branded model TZ-17 on its ID plate, and like my Mother's, it has a "305 De Luxe" badge on the pillar. It is NOT a White 305 - the 305 is a far more modern machine.
Supporting the idea that this model was available from several importers, Linda at Relics (www.sewing-machine-manuals.com) sells a manual for them, generically marked; if you have one you can buy the manual 
The White 305 (left) Not even close! These "305 De Luxe" units (right) were badged by at least 2 companies (White and Birginal-Bigsby), maybe more!
White was unable to tell me anything about the machine pictured above. I probably should have purchased it, it sold for only $10, but shipping one is murder.
The web is a wonderful thing. Thanx to Google, a very nice lady found this page and sent me some cell phone pictures of her "305 De Luxe", which is, of course, just like the above White - and more importantly, is a Birginal-Bigsby "American Beauty" exactly like my Mother's:
"American Beauty" is painted on in the Birginal-Bigsby font.
Unlike the machine, the motor was made in USA. I wonder if the White version was...
The Model number TZ-17 - and news at last: this machine was made by TOYOTA!
So now the mystery is solved at last - the "305 De Luxe" machines were made by Toyota. A check of the Toyota website even allowed me to figure out what the model number means. Their first zig-zag machine was called a model TZ-3. Obviously the "TZ" means "Toyota Zig-Zag". How they progressed from TZ-3 to this TZ-17 I have no idea; and where the "305 De Luxe" comes in is anyone's guess.
From a contributer: Between 1955 and 1961 Toyota supplied White Sewing Machine Company with various models of Zig Zag machines. Toyota, Brother, and a company called Koyo seemed to have shared some contracts for machines. It was sort of like buying a Dodge that had been built by Mitsubishi. There is a picture out there of a Brother machine stamped Toyota across the bottom. Toyota was also producing a car called the Crown for the Japanese market at the same time it was making Remington, Crown, and Sovereign sewing machines.
The above factoid dovetails nicely with the 1957 purchase date of my Mother's Toyota-built, Birginal-Bigsby imported "American Beauty".
I'm told this last machine bears an apparent maker's mark cast into the bottom "Y2", whatever that means. Beyond "Y2" being a location in the classic Crowther and Woods "Colossal Cave" (text) Adventure, its a mystery to me!
These two are obviously the exact same machine. This would be a "cross-over" model that was sold
with the older, painted livery; and then switched over to the riveted badge at a later date.
Very similar, probably by the same supplier as the above. I'm guessing its a bit newer.
Yet another contributer had a beautiful story to tell:
Hello, I came across your page when I searched for information about the American Beauty sewing machine online. I have a nice story to tell about mine. My mother bought me my first and only sewing machine as a gift when I was 15 years old, from a second hand store in Fallbrook, California. It is still running and will outlive me I am sure! I told my daughter I will pass it on to her someday.
I have the original booklet and it was made in Japan. It is a ZigZag Automatic sewing machine. The original owner purchased it via catalog, and it was delivered in June 1969. It is a very nice color of white and light mint green. The booklet is fun to read, because the Japanese translations were often incorrect--but a good attempt.
Read your research and history of the company, being sued for the name because it implied "deception" since it was not assembled in America...interesting.
Well, my old sewing machine is special because it is well built, solid metal...sewing machines today are not made that way anymore. Also, it holds special memories... my mother's gift to me.
The "JA12" indicates this machine was built by Brother, its similarity to the above trio suggests that they too were built by the same manufacturer. However, the shipping label in the right hand picture is the real find. It associates Birginal-Bigsby with the riveted badge machines by its presence with one of the same, as well as proving the painted livery machines as Birginal-Bigsby as well by the use of the same font for the words "American Beauty". The 1969 date for this machine, coupled with the 1957 date for my Mother's machine, is consistent with the idea that the painted livery came first in the 1950s; riveted badges came later in the 1960s" idea. 
Yet another eBay find - painted livery again. This one's kinda cute, I wouldn't mind owning it. Seller mentions the accessories are in a box marked "Fridor" - which I originally thought was probably spurious; but perhaps not. See below. An expert from the Needlebar site thinks it *MAY* have been made by "Zündapp" from the size/shape of the machine. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that this one was NOT made by Toyota - in fact it just "may" be a Birginal-Bigsby "American Beauty" that wasn't made in Japan at all!
Note the original instruction manual, in common with the (reproduction) manual from "Relics" for my Mother's "305 De Luxe", bears no brand name!
The only other factoid is to note that the riveted badges all appear to use the same Birginal-Bigsby font - the answer was in front of everyone the whole time!
More 'Beauties!
This pink one showed up on eBay - in the painted Birginal-Bigsby livery.
From a contributer: This machine was also sold as a Dressmaker and a Remington so may have been
built by Toyota considering they supplied for both names. Morse also bought from Toyota (and Riccar)...
This one, also in painted Birginal-Bigsby livery, the owner states that it was made by Toyota.
Quite a few similarities between this Zündapp, and the above American Beauty; but quite a few differences as well. I wouldn't mind owning a Zündapp - see another one in the eye candy page. I am, however, leaning towards thinking that the above 'Beauty was NOT made by Zündapp. Another factoid: All the Zündapps I've seen have been "self-contained flatbed" machines similar to this one.
There are enough similarities here that, coupled with the presence of the Fridor branded accessories box, suggests that perhaps the above 'Beauty was indeed a Fridor (Fridor was from the Netherlands). I'm going on the presence of a semi-concealed flywheel which is shared by all 3 of the above machines. Of course, the "Fridor" branding of the accessories could still be spurious, my little Bell has a full set of attachments made by Griest, who certainly did NOT make the machine!
These pictures were sent in from a kind contributer. Seems like a double-badged machine. Would seem that it was NOT made by Toyota. Another contributer thinks this one is "probably" a Brother due to the presence of "folding" spool pins.
What appears to be yet another generic Japanese class 15 machine - in painted livery.
Not the greatest picture, but a class 15 with a riveted badge.
Another class 15 painted livery machine, subtly different (left); a painted livery machine reported as a "Model 110" (center) and another riveted badge (right).
A similar, if not identical machine to this latter, may have been a model Koyo Supplied to White and Dressmaker.
Look familiar? Another one with JA12 on the bottom indicating Brother-made.
This one was being sold on eBay as an "Industrial"
machine.
Oops! Looks like the normal location for the rose was already taken by the OEM's graphic, so they put the rose on the side of the pillar. First one I've seen like this.
Maybe its sentimental early childhood memories, but I like the painted livery machines better with their painted roses.
From a kind contributer: An American Beauty in painted livery. No "Toyota" or other meaningful marks on the bottom were reported.
This one is a De Luxe 105 as opposed to De Luxe 305 as my mother's was. Interestingly, the "American Beauty" text isn't bracketed by the little "Henna like"
curlycues like every other Birginal-Bigsby machine I've seen. Not enough room?
This light obviously isn't original equipment - in fact it looks like a "Singerlight"
identical to the one on my Singer 99k!Get a load of this! The exact same machine, without American Beauty livery.
What makes this one so interesting is the "De Luxe" badge - no "105" on it. This makes me wonder
if the generic "305 De Luxe" was ever sold without the "305" or perhaps with another number!
Here's what the original light on this model looked like.
"ModernAge"
Motor- Vigorelli, robot Motor made in the USA. Note non-matching color. Replacement or original?
Painted livery with rose on the bed, yet with riveted badge "ModernAge".
Serial number 568829 and somewhat blurry photo shows "HZ1"
Familiar painted Birginal-Bigsby livery, and blue color as seen on my Mother's machine."ModernAge" is another "who knows" brand name that came out of Japan that usually isn't associated with American Beauty. Here's a typical example:
Morse was another popular (and well regarded these days) brand name from Japan (I've seen the name on Singer-15 clones similar to the "Wizard" and "Baldwin" pictured on the eye candy page; also see the painted livery American Beauty class 15 clones above.), here is another double badged American Beauty this time with riveted badges! This machine recently sold for a whopping $26 on eBay and was identified as "Morse B.H. 01810 American Beauty Sewing Machine". UPDATE: Apparently (at least some) Morse machines were made by Toyota, according to an ongoing conversation on the Needlebar site. Whether this particular one was or not, I have no way of knowing; but here's yet another (possible) American Beauty/Toyota connection! 
Another "ModernAge". Photo courtesy of
"Morse"
"Morse" plus riveted American Beauty badge."Sewmaster". No known relationship with American Beauty; pictured here to illustrate the similarity between the later date American Beauty with its riveted badge, the above "ModernAge", this Sewmaster, and doubtless countless others - the badges all look the same! The "telling tale" with the American Beauty badge is the distinctive Birginal-Bigsby font. The presence of the fold down spool pins also suggests this as a Brother, but "could be" a Koyo.
Sewmaster
Singer vs. Birginal-Bigsby
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