wow, they have really gone up in price! When I bought mine I thought that $250 was alot, but that was probably 18 years ago. That one is my daughters now and is still going strong. My 'new' one was something that my MIL bought at a garage sale for about 250 a couple of years back, and casually came over to my camper and said "Is this one of those old machines you keep going on about? maybe I should sell this on ebay" needless to say I paid her cash for it and took it home :-) I ended up with a 1955 with all the attachments plus a buttonholer with extra templates and a case in really good condition, and a machine that looked new.