miriam

Finding the value is very tough. You may have to go by what you see locally over time. (That bentwood case is worth more than $30 on ebay Charlee) A working machine - depends on a lot. Has it been serviced? cleaned and oiled? Have cords been replaced? I know you CAN buy the machines inexpensively in some parts of the country - other places it is a different story. I usually base my prices on what I have in it plus what time I had to put in it. Sometimes I come out on the short end but I chalk it up to learning experience. I'm still less expensive than if you buy it for cheap and then have to take it to a shop just to make it work. If you do the work on it yourself then buy the cheap ones and fix them up - some times you will end up with a machine for parts. If you don't work on them at least educate yourself enough to know what it will need and whether or not any work has already been done. Take some time playing with the machine. I get people who come over and really play with a machine. I LOVE that. Then I get people who pick it up, pay and leave - they worry me. I would say that about any machine you get cheap is GOING to need SOME work - at least the ones I find do. How willing are you to do that work yourself. I know some people look at a vintage machine that needs work and give up - they sell it cheap - then go buy a plastic machine at WM or where ever. The good news is most vintage machines can be made to work and will outlast those new ones every time. I don't blame the Vintage Singer group for not allowing worth posts. It is a dis-service to a well serviced machine to sell it for less than it is worth and it is equally a dis-service to sell one for more than it is worth.... When you look at the machine check to see if it is clean inside and out. Check for lint and dried up yellow oil. Does it turn freely? Is the tension set right? Is there any rust? If it has gears inside are any cracked? No gears? That's ok unless they are missing. Does the machine stitch nice? Does the bobbin winder work? How does the machine sound? Does it purr? roar? click? squeal? smoke? Does it zig and zag? Do all the levers and knobs work? Is the needle going down the center of the hole? I've worked on a few machines and I still am learning new things that can be wrong. I bought a Spartan that looked fantastic - everything checked out. The tension had some drag. I hand turned it and it made a nice stitch. I never plugged it in though. I got home and had nothing to do. I was amazed. Then I thought I would sew a quilt for DGS on it. It would take a stitch or two and nothing. Well, it was a loose tension spring - I had to figure out how to fix it. I'm thankful for good directions on line. It could have cost a hefty service fee. I bet that was why it was in such good shape - maybe it just never was right. Had it been top dollar, my goof there would have been to not spend enough time checking it out and not running it with fabric in it. Don't get me wrong it was still worth what I paid. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder isn't it.