Please translate these signs off an antique sewing machine

[russiangirl]

Hello everyone!

Could someone please please please help me translate this into english? The words from the key and the door of a sewing machine. Thank you so much in advance!

[SiMaKe]

On the upper portion of the key in the second image: 公私合营 （gōng-sī héyíng) means "a joint state-private owenership" [a principal form of state capitalism adopted during the socialist transformation of capitalist enterprises in China {source: Pleco}]

 

The lower portion of the key (written upside down) seems to say: 德興锁廠 （DéXīng Suǒchǎng) Dexing Lock Works/Factory where Dexing is a place - a county-level city in Shangrao Jiangxi

 

The first image is more problematic.

 

On the left appears to be 一九五八年  (the year 1958).

 

But on the right, the best I can do is guess

 

风X fēng X - wind X  - maybe风采 (elegant manner, graceful bearing) with a variant form of "cai" or its just plain wrong :-)

 

牡丹 mǔdan - peony 

——

彫作 diāozuò - carving

 

Maybe someone else can fill in the gaps and/or make corrections.

[ouyahudie]

the year is 1958, simake got most of it right already. i did not want to post bcuz i cant figure out the rest... but i looked up the ”采 “ character in a radical dictionary, i don't know what is the right one but here are some options

椟 a box or cupboard

探 oak

榇 a type of plant, a coffin

榉 A leaf-shedding tree that grows up to 25 meters in length. It produces high quality, tough timber for carpentry, shipbuilding, or architecture.

檫 sassafras

摽 To bound or tie an object very tight

抹 to smear / to wipe / to erase / (classifier for wisps of cloud, light-beams etc), girdle / brassiere / to plaster

风 can also mean style, manner, custom

i hope that might help

[dwq]

The character is 採，as in 採花 (picking flowers)。That phrase is probably the title of the picture engraved on the machine.

[chinchillus]

风採牡丹 is an equivoque. It means "the peony of elegant demeanour“ though now 采 is more widely used instead of 採. As we can see, the carved pattern in the left-bottom is a bird with a flower. The bird is actually a phoenix and the flower is a peony. 风(feng1) has a similar sound and shape with 凤(feng4). 凤(feng4) means "phoenix" in general and "male phoenix" in particular. So the other meaning of 风採牡丹 is "a phoenix plucks a peony". Both the phoenix and peony are important symbols in the Chinese culture. Their images can be seen in paintings, poems, buildings and other art works. 风採牡丹 is a common pattern.

 

As to 一彫作, it means "by Yi Diao". 一彫 is most probably the name of the carver. Since 彫 means "to carve", 一彫 could be a nickname.