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Singer Serial Number Prefix Chart

Single-Letter Prefixes (1900–1920s)

Single letters were assigned to major manufacturing plants. Elizabethport and Clydebank, the two largest factories, drew from a shared pool of letters rather than each running its own sequence.

PrefixFactory LocationDate Range
APodolsk, Russia1911 onward (est.)
BElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1904–1905
CWittenberge, Germany1908 onward (est.)
DElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1908–1909
EPodolsk, Russia1908 onward (est.)
FClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1910–1920
GElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1910–1924
HElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1906–1907 (est.)
J— not a valid single-letter prefix —
KElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1902–1903
LElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1901
MClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1900 (est.)
NElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1900
PClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1900–1901 (est.)
RClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1902–1903 (est.)
SClydebank, Scotland (main run); Podolsk, Russia (~100 units)1906–1907 (est.)
TPodolsk, Russia1906 onward (est.)
VClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1908–1909 (est.)
WBridgeport, Connecticut, USA1954 onward
XClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1919 onward (est.)
YClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1925, but possibly as early as 1920

Two-Letter Prefixes (1920s–1960s+)

As production expanded globally, Singer moved to a two-letter prefix structure. Six of the twenty-two entries below needed a date correction; the rest of the original table’s factory assignments were accurate.

Prefix BlockFactory LocationStart Year
AA to ATElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1924
BA to BYElizabethport, New Jersey, USA1924
CA to CYBogotá, Colombia1964
DA to DYKarachi, Pakistan1962
EA to EYClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1935 (block allocated); ISMACS shows the ED sub-block actually issued from 1941
FA to FYClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1935
GA to GYClydebank (Kilbowie), Scotland1935
HA to HYIstanbul, Turkey1959
JA to JESaint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada1924
KA to KYBuenos Aires, Argentina1959
LA to LYTaytay, Philippines1959
MA to MYMonza, Italy1935
NA to NCAnderson, South Carolina, USA1951
ND to NYTaichung, Taiwan1963
PA to PYKarlsruhe, Germany1954
RA to RYCampinas, Brazil1955
SA to SNBonnières-sur-Seine, France1935
SP to SYLima, Peru1963
TA to TYUtsunomiya, Japan1954
VA to VYPenrith, NSW, Australia1959
WA to WYSantiago, Chile1967
YA to YYQuerétaro, Mexico1958–1959