Vicki opened up my Peepers!
As I posted earlier, she and I have been exchanging emails regarding antique sewing machines. She is specifically interested in the decorative center piece between the drawers and asked me about it.
I have lived with this machine for 41 years. It never occured to me that it was anything other than a fixed, decorative piece designed to hide the machine when it is stored inside the cabinet.
I was going to reply to Vicki from the comfort of my chair with the convenience of my laptop telling her this very thing. I don’t know why I decided to get up and go check it out ….
it’s a drawer! a narrow, secret drawer! how cool is that?!
No, it was not hiding away an original copy of the Declaration …. but it does have a small, permanent little block of wood with holes drilled into it, probably a thimble holder or something like that ….
I’m going to take pictures of all my stuff and send them to Vicki!
purlingswine 
Isn’t it thrilling to discover something new about something you thought you knew? I’m so looking forward to pics!
Fun news about the secret drawer (I knew it wasn’t the Declaration, or Nick Cage would have been at your house…I saw the movie…)
I swear to you I just got a commercial sent to me, requesting play on my radio station for free along with a PSA. And I promise it is only because of you that I actually will. It’s for http://piggytomarket.com/ How funny is that?
Damn, wouldn’t it have been nice if it were an IBM stock certificate or a $100 bill in there? But still, a fun find, eh?
I have a similar sewing machine but without the table, handle turning only. Mine has a drawer in the base to store extra bobbins and stuff. Found an elderly seam ripper in there first time I looked.
Got one too. Seems like it has been around forever. Mine is a Singer and has “your secret compartment” too. It is valuable to me heart but me thinks there are too many of them out there for any real cash value.
I grew up with, & learned to sew on, a treadle machine. The “holes” in the narrow drawer were to store bobbins in. The bobbins were rods with a cap on each end much like those on the ends of a knitting needle.