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Member since 9/18/04
Posts: 2373
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Posted on: 4/23/09 3:23 PM ET
As I am typing this, the Craiglist posting is time stamped only an hour ago. I nearly stopped breathing when I saw it. The seller has no idea what s/he has.

"Singer sewing machine with table and accessories $400"

The copy reads:
Singer sewing machine, model 221-1. Includes table, case, accessories, manuals.

Cash only, please.
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There are 4 photos. The 221-1 is in one of the original card tables made for Featherweights, the original case is under the table. There are at least 4 accessories, but the photos aren't too clear. Looks like a buttonholer, a walking foot and two others I can't identify.

I have no room for this and no need; there are 7 sewing machines in the house now.

I'm hoping on of my Pattern Review sisters or brothers might be interested.

CMC
ps: Can someone more adept at posting photos perhaps post them in this thread?
-- Edited on 4/23/09 3:26 PM --
  
Member since 9/29/05
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Posted on: 4/23/09 3:37 PM ET
In reply to CM_Sews
It's really not that big a deal. The average price of a FW is about $200. I wouldn't pay any more for one. The one in that ad is sitting in the table, therefore you wouldn't be able to see any aluminum rot IF it were there. It also looks pretty dirty. And tables go for just over $200, usually.

I don't mean to burst your bubble. And it is just MVHO.

ETA: There may be some table top damage, but you wouldn't tell because they've covered the table in manuals, etc. Also, I wonder if it comes from a smoking home.
-- Edited on 4/23/09 3:39 PM --
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Member since 6/18/08
Posts: 2609
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Posted on: 4/23/09 3:46 PM ET
Price seems fine, even a little high. Ebay prices are way inflated compared to CL. You can pick up FWs in thrift stores and garage sales for as low a $30, but it may take awhile to find one. Chances are it won't be in the best of shape, either.

It would be a different story if the machine has been professionally refurbished and is in tip-top shape. That makes all the difference, especially to collectors who are willing to pay top-dollar for a vintage machine in mint condition.
  
Member since 8/11/06
Posts: 348
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Posted on: 4/23/09 4:57 PM ET
I’m with the others. This is not that great a deal. FWs go for about $200 and the tables are usually $100-150, in good condition. You can tell from the pictures that the table is pretty scratched up, so this is on the high side.
  
Member since 9/18/04
Posts: 2373
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Posted on: 4/23/09 5:36 PM ET
Where do you live??? I could make a fortune buying Featherweights in your area and reselling them here.

Nice ones go for about $400 - $600 around here for a working machine in good to fair condition. Just the machine. No attachments, and certainly not the with an original card table accessory. Even on Craigslist, I rarely see Featherweights in the $200 range. For $200, I'd expect a Featherweight with a lot of scratches and not necessarily in working condition. I assume anyone on Craigslist who lets a Featherweight go for $200 does not know the local Featherweight collector market.

There's a local vendor in the SF Bay Area who refurbishes Featherweights, does new enamel on some of the badly abused machines. I'm not sure what his low-end prices are, but he's selling some of them for $1000. He's doing a bang up business. I keep seeing him and his opalescent purple, blue, and green Featherweights at quilt shows.

I'd expect to see the collection in the ad in a shop (dealer, antique shop, etc.) priced in the $700 to $1000 range.

Note that a Featherweight is not worth that much to ME, but I am aware of the collector market locally and how the prices run. Desirability, logical or not, does drive up prices.

Edited to add: Most thrift stores around here know a FW is. I doubt I could find one in any local thrift store for $30. Garage sale, maybe, if I'm the first one there before the dealers. About 10 years ago, I encountered a vendor who was selling a course on how to buy old FWs, repair them and resell them. He must have had quite a few students in the area.

CMC
-- Edited on 4/23/09 6:02 PM --
  
Member since 8/11/06
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Posted on: 4/23/09 9:04 PM ET
In reply to CM_Sews
I live in Nashville, TN. Last year I bought a FW which worked fine and had normal wear for $100. The seller told me he had looked around and found that $100 was a fair price to ask. (I'm sure he was just averaging the price of any used sewing machine, and not a FW.) Around the holidays I sold the same machine for $250 to a woman in Chicago. She said that they were hard to come by in her area and she felt $250 was a fair price.

There is a lady locally who has sold numerous FWs priced at $275, which I think is a little high. I believe she finds them at estate sales for around $50-75. I did buy my white FW from her (for $300).
  
Member since 3/4/05
Posts: 5265
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Posted on: 4/23/09 9:21 PM ET
I saw that listing while doing my daily search and thought it was a little high, considering I recently found one in perfect condition on craigslist and got for $20. Now that was a case of someone really not knowing what they had and it turned out to be my lucky day. There are deals to be found out there!

There was a Featherweight table listed recently for $90 that looked much better than the one in this ad posted. I would have been interested but I set a travel limit as to how far I'll drive. Some things just aren't worth the gas and time and something will show up closer to home, like my Featherweight did. And the same for a wonderful Bernina 830 I found for $25, also from craigslist.

I'm a low budget machine junkie.


-- Edited on 4/23/09 10:09 PM --
  
Member since 9/18/04
Posts: 2373
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Posted on: 4/24/09 2:16 PM ET
Obviously I’ve been blinded by retail prices: Local thrift store, FW marked as not working, no case, no attachments, no manuals: $80. Sewing machine dealer, FW with no case, no attachments, no manuals, but the FW has been cleaned oiled and adjusted: $400. Over time, dozens of Craigslist ads for FWs in the $200 to $300 range.

Boutique restorer shop, specializing in FWs, lovely machines polished and pampered and sometimes with new enamel in non-standard colors: $700 -$1100. Attachments $50 to $75 each.

I’ve seen very few of the card tables up for sale, but a quick Google search turned up one in Tulsa (CL), about the same condition as the on in th SF Bay Area ad, $125. A reproduction card table will run you about $180-$200, plus shipping.

Given those prices, a machine with the case, a table, 4 attachments, all the manuals for $400 looked like a decent deal to me.

Karen, I saw that $20 FW Craigslist posting. So you were the quick-on-the-draw lucky winner on that one! I just sort of blinked when I saw that. I think it was out of my geographical range, or I might have responded. I concur with your ideas about travel limits. Some fellow has posted a couple of times now a hand-crank Necchi, perhaps a toy or a child's machine, lovely little pink thing, with the original case. It is very tempting, but he wants too much for it ($200), and besides, it would be a 200 mile round trip for me to pick it up.

CMC
-- Edited on 4/24/09 2:17 PM --
  
Member since 3/4/05
Posts: 5265
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Posted on: 4/24/09 3:22 PM ET
In reply to CM_Sews
Actually, the Featherweight was not listed with the price. There was a listing in Modesto for clearing leftover items out of a house, which included three sewing machines. I e-mailed and asked what models and the owner said he had a Morse, a White and a small black Singer and said he would send pictures. Once he sent a picture I called and made an offer. He said his wife mostly sewed on the White so the Singer had hardly been used, it had the original needle packets, the keys, attachments, everything. So it really was a hidden gem!
  
Member since 9/18/04
Posts: 2373
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Posted on: 4/24/09 3:45 PM ET
In reply to ohsewkaren
Wow! Excellent find!

The CL posting I was thinking of appeared in the last couple of months in the SF bay area. It just said something like "Sewing Machine, $20" and there was a photo of a FW. I think that was it; no other text or details. Me: Blink...blink, blink, blink. It would have been another one of those 200 mile round trips for me to pick it up, so I let it pass.

The posting was removed by the next day. I assume a sale was made.

CMC
  
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