Category: Milton Zeis

The light weight of the Bakelite plastic side-plate on this model made this machine easier to manage for the hobbyist.  It sold, with a cord, for $12.50.  A diamond tip needle bar, used fro engraving, could be purchased for $4.50. From the Zeis catalog, “Engraves on all jewelry, designs glass, writes on iron and steel tools,…

The tattoo business sometimes referred to this design as the “square top”.  Over the years it sold for $20-$29. From the Zeiss catalog:  “This machine is styled after the late Percy Waters favorite malleable tattoo machine, and is set up in the same way as our other two machines.  Coils are hand wound with #24…

Zeis made 1500 of these.  The machines were were sold from 1941-1966.  They were built during wartime, which may explain the lack of metal.  Bill Jones is credited as having an earlier similar type machine. From the Zeiss catalog…  “All metal parts are rust proof.  The housing of frame is made of bakelite.  All parts…

Ralph Johnson (d.1962), a tattooist and banner painter, drew flash for the Milton Zeis catalog in Chicago in the 1950’s. Zeis had a thriving mail-order tattoo supply business which sold machines and design sheets He advertised in popular mechanics. In a 1947 publication, Zeis estimated that, “there are from 50,000 to 60,000 different tattoo designs.”…