I've been watching this one too. Had it not been PU ONLY I would have bid on it.
I think the Japanese made clones were made to sell in a much more conservative time, and to compete with Singer. So their ornamentation was simple to very nice, but conservative. The latest Chinese and Indian made clones are pandering to a much more liberal population and Singer isn't in the picture any more.
The truth is I like the gaudy decals on these newer machines. Been trying to score on one for a while. Problem is so has a lot of folks and I haven't snagged one yet.
There are only two bidders working this one over. I could be one of them is a shill but it's hard to tell. I watch the auctions and if I see a bidder coming in and running the auction price up, then quitting, or running it up, winning then see the item come back again I can pretty much bet that is a shill bidder.
My wife and I watched one early in on and caught them doing just this. We collected several auction numbers where this happened and then contacted GW corporate with a complaint. They answered saying it couldn't possibly be the case, but coincidentally that bidder all but disappeared right after that.
Joe