1. I've read where some people think that the oldest ones sew the best. I can't attest to that as I've only ever sewn on mine which is a 1950s machine. The centennial isn't necessarily worth any more than the '39, that's a judgement call. A '39 FW is pretty darn old in the scheme of things. And there are FWs worth a whole lot more than either of these. The rare badged state fair models, for example. Prices on FWs really are all over the map. I think they're over rated and mostly over priced, myself. I watched and waited for a couple years and found mine for $50. Not bragging, just stating that I was willing to wait rather than pay hundreds for a machine I can't take seriously.
2. Depends. The scrolled machines are older than the striated face machines, so that comes into play.
3. I don't know all the differences or the after dash designations. The K simply means it was built in the UK not the US or Canada. The 221 only had one major internal change as far as I know. After the first couple of years they made some sort of change to the bobbin case base but it's not something you or I would be able to notice at a glance. Oh, and the white ones are belt driven instead of gear driven, so I guess that's two changes.
Cari
Last edited by Cari-in-Oly; 03-18-2018 at 05:47 PM.