Makes me want to buy the wood case for my 201 and sell it!
 

I have a beautiful, Centennial, 201 just like this one posted but not in the wooden case. They can be purchased for aprox $60. I have most of the accessories I could add to the package if I sold. For this price I am tempted! I know it only takes 2 bidders that want something for it to go this high but there are several different ones bidding on this. What do you think?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201333247907...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The bids might be higher on that one because it's a centennial edition.

Some sellers just get lucky like that. I agree the centennial badge might have something to do with the high price. Excellent pics and an (mostly) accurate description help a lot. It is a beautiful example of a 201.

Personally though I have an aversion to sellers who make the claims of domestic machines being able to sew through leather. Too many people who don't know any better think a domestic machine can do it all the time and then get upset when they ruin a great machine feeding it a steady diet of what it wasn't built for. I'd also say the 201-2 does not have all steel gears but that's just being picky.

Cari

Wow what an idiot to pay that much for that machine. No chance in Hades would I pay anywhere near that. Wasn't it P.T. Barnum that said one was born every minute? Sheesh!

Considering mine is in it's original cabinet I should be able to get at least $1,000 for it.

Joe

Wow! When I looked it was around $400 which I thought was pretty high. I see it went for $687. In checking the bids it looked like a bidding war. Hope the "winner" is happy with their purchase.

What does the -2 mean in the designation 201-2 and where would you find that? I have a 201 from April 1952, serial # AK899322 that I bought at a yard sale about 1.5 yrs ago for 40.00 and I love it. Since I have four machines (actually 5, if you count the red eye 66 I bought last fall but haven't sewn with yet), I try to alternate which machine I use for each project to keep them all moving so they don't get set up.

I have a 201-3 my grandmother bought when I was 5-6 (she had to borrow $5.00 from me in 1951-52). I still remember the day they delivered it to her big Victorian house. Love that machine and I was told difference between 2 and 3 was motor. Do you have the original manual? That is how I know mine is a 3. Has original case and all the feet etc. Grandmother had it, then mom who made drapes and slipcovers and lots of clothes on it and now I have it and am almost 69.

Thanks to all of you. You make each thread interesting by what you have to add.
Yes! Over $600?! Crazy!

I would not be able to put myself through the stress of that bidding war....my son is an ebay seller, and sometimes he gets crazy during the last few hours of something that he has for sale is being bid on--then goes nuts wondering if the post office/FedEx/UPS is going to shatter the rest of his nerves until the bidder gets his product. That would be my concern; if you really love your 201, and are reasonably sure that you won't be able to find another like it, just hold onto it and enjoy it, knowing that you have a machine worth nearly $700 if you would ever decide to sell it.JMHO.

I have a 201, but I haven't done any sewing on it yet because I want to refurbish the shellac coating first in order to protect the decals which are about 98% intact. We have worked on it, the presser foot was stuck and we had to work on that. My son rewired the motor, just for safety's sake. The wiring was not shorted or anything like that, but obviously, it had not been used in a long time. As far as sewing leather with a domestic sewing machine, I don't want to do that. A home sewing machine is not intended for that purpose, and I don't think I would want to do that at all. As to the value of the machine, I wouldn't want to even guess. I think I'd rather keep a machine that I know works than sell it for big bucks, and then, when I wanted another, I'd end up having to pay even bigger bucks to replace it!! JMHO!

Jeanette