As the cuprit to be blamed for outing these two Singers to the List, I thought I might make a few further observations.
In my first contribution to the List, in introducing myself, I think that I stated my interest in French frames, but declared not being over passionate about Herse and Singer machines. That was not in any way to criticise these builders because they produced excellently crafted machines but simpy to admit that I could not understand the very high prices these machines command. My explanation is that it is something to do with Proust and his novel "A La Recherche du Temps Perdu" ( forgive me if Proust wasn't the author)..something to do with not being able to obtain a bit of history..to claw back the years. When an opportunity is given, rarely, some folk are willing to pay a high price for it.
I came across both these famous marques some four decades ago..and was very impressed by the quality of build and finish..particularly highlighted by acres of chrome or modest understated colours such as gloss black or very dark blue. Unlike some members of the List I have not studied the builders' work very closely and therefore I am not, in any way, an expert on these brands.
I had assumed that they only produced what the French call "haut de gamme" frames..custom, made to measure..and of high quality, so it has come as bit of a surpirise to read that the two frames I outed might have been out of the second or even third drawer of production..or even have been bought-in ones. Why put the same transfers on them as on the top frames?
I firmly believe that the frames I have built, all 100% custom ones.."one-offs" were of high quality, but in my case the customer could choose any set of lugs, fork crown, bottom bracket, Fand R drop-outs, fork and seat-stay end treatments he liked..or even bronze-welded or Bi-laminated construction ,for his frame. The quality of build was always the same, just the price varied according to the components used and the complexity of the build.
I raise this point because it seems to me that the larger of the two Singers on Ebay could have been built to the customer's choice, using a lighter, more modern Prugnat lug-set, the Wagner crown, instead of the usual set of heavier cast lugs. Perhaps...and this does happen..the customer preferred the domed and slotted stay and fork ends instead of the traditional scalloped treatment. To some of my customers the "straight-out-of-the-box" solution epitomised the ultimate in stay-end design. Certainly it is more water-tight than many other treatments that I recall seeing over the years.
As already stated I am not a disciple of Singer and Herse..so in making the observations above, I am merely exercising "la matiere grise" in an attempt to understand why Singer would put his "top" brand transfers on a lower, possibly, quality frame.
Norris Lockley