This machine was won at auction earlier today by my good friend Ian. Today is July 5th 2025. A most lovely machine, looks like new! Literally. He lives 80 miles away, but as soon as he got home he took some pictures to show me. Below is the only auction pic we saw pre sale. It was locked inside a cage at the auction to prevent pilfering… Rightly so.
We discussed the single pic & decided it looked very nice, even though we could not see inside the accessory box: ) We knew it was a 730 Record of course! So it was won, of course, for a modest price. No regrets, of course: )
Just look at these photos & you will see why.
Can’t even see a scratch. Clean as a whistle & it clearly has had little use.
The accessory tray looks immaculate too. What’s inside those drawers?? Keep looking: )
Immaculate under the lid. Could literally be 6 months old? Even the belt looks new. The clutch is free. The cam drive plastic cog is not checked at this point but I’d lay a bet it’s good; )
Looks like a full compliment of feet. Had 9 I think as original kit?
The oil bottle still in its original sealed polythene wrapper.
New looking embroidery ring, but only 2 spare needles! What a shame: )
UK/EU voltages happily, but it was bought originally from Bernina Sewing Machines Ltd. in Ndola, Zambia on 9th September 1970 we believe. Price K260. K = Kwacha. 10 Kwacha = £5.
Original paperwork by the look of it & prices are Zambian Kwachas.
Still has its original expanded polystyrene internal shipping packaging intact. I’m just amazed by it all! Not a mark on the foot pedal even. The 2 prong plug needs an adapter, but I think we can splash out another fiver for one of those perhaps: ) It is just an amazing machine overall & this is just a first look. I also have a perfect child/younger sister for this machine, a 707 Minimatic which almost as gorgeous as this one. Click here to see: ) Just scroll down to the bottom to see, there are 2 707 Minimatics. (Both sweet)
Finally the case. Needs a little attention to the shiny bits but this case has protected the machine for 55 years plus & it’s still looking good: ) The sticker is the auction date indicator. Earlier today. How cool is that? I find it easy to fall in love with Berninas.
Always nice to have the Guarantee? Date is a little obscured but actually says 9/9/70. So the machine is one of the later 730 Records. I have an early 830 Record from 1971.
My good friend Ian brought the machine over for a close look today & here we have a picture of the lovely 730 Record alongside its 707 Minimatic sibling. They look great together IMO: )
Both close to immaculate & along with the 730 Record came its ‘My Bernina Guide’. Looking inside it amazingly has a real stitched samples of all the illustrated stitch patterns overlaid on the printed diagrams!
How cool is that from 1970? How it survived in such lovely condition illustrates how well this machine has been preserved.
The machine is as new & so are its manuals, accessories, everything. The machine & all could be a couple of months old, literally. A true time warp machine.
There are 15 pages of these samples in the guide. All immaculate. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the stitched samples were done on the actual machine…
Here are some more examples.
All the settings, hints, etc. are on the page to show a complete beginner how to do it. I may overuse the word ‘amazing’ when describing this machine & its pretty complete accessories, etc. but this particular machine entirely deserves it: )