However unusual or rare-ish, that is a huge lot of money for items you can find for a song at yard sales or for free in the drawer / tool box of your machine! At least whoever bought the item did it for a good cause.

Seb, I disagree with you. Some of the items are common. Many did not come standard with the machine, so not many people bought them.

I found a hopping foot for a slant machine. It was a a downsizing sale. The lady had decided not to sell her 401, but the sales person sold me the foot, anyway. I have six slant machines, but none came with a hopping foot. The penguin foot for the short shank Singer (I'm not sure if it was for the featherweight only or any short shank) was purchased separately. The big monogrammers are hard to find as well, they were an extra purchase. Some of the templates for the small monogrammers are hard to find, too. It came with a couple, but you had to order the others from Singer.

bkay

"you just never know" what you will find in drawers or with a machine. I got my first hemstitcher & picot attachment with a machine. I have managed to pick up the plates for all except the 101 and 221. I also got an embroidery attachment (which I unfortunately broke the spring on) with a 15-91. I used to frequent a thrift shop and always checked out the sewing machines. I think it was a 319 in a cabinet that had a penguin foot. It took my breath away, not because I wanted one, but because I knew what it was. I didn't think I would ever see or hold one. I was honest and told him that he should try to sell it separately on ebay. He did. Every once in a while I'd find a little something that I wanted and when I asked about price, he would tell me to just take it.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Of course bkay, you are right, a lot of attachments did not come standard with machines. Yet from what I have seen so far, Singer salespeople must have been good because a lot of machines I see have unusual goodies in their drawers: I recently saw an all-to-common 15k88 listed for 30eur that came along an embroidery attachment, a Swiss zigzagger and a buttonholer with cams. Like Janey did, most of my attachments come from cajoling sellers into selling me attachments separately 😜
Yet, I agree about rarities like the penguin walking foot, this sale may just have been the only opportunity to get one for many people.
It also all depends on your location too, in France there is not a huge market for vintage sewing machines and fripperies (to my dismay since all the parts need to be ordered from the US or Britain) so it is still possible to make lucky finds😊

Yes, you are right, too. I found a hemstitcher for a featherweight in the drawer of the first 201 I bought along with some bobbins.

bkay

I just checked -- there have been three of the "penguin" Walking Presser Feet that sold on ebay in the past few months, one for $895, one for $1000, and one in which an offer was made on a $1500 price tag (so less than that but probably not much). So that's probably where the bid came from.

Here's also a video demonstrating one -- apparently they're for Featherweights or any other low shank machine, and we all know how crazy Featherweight collectors can go for their things (ahem!) https://vimeo.com/103397642

I find it kind of funny that the collection is just sort of casually thrown together and offered as a bunch of attachments, and you can see a note added on the auction that, hey BTW this includes the penguin walking foot. So someone must have suggested they call it to bidders' attention!

The only cam I know of that is collectable is the top hat #17 "curlicue," and that may be it on the lower left edge of the group, but even that is only worth about $15 to 30 or so (at least that's what I paid for mine!). So the bid must have come from the penguin walking foot.

Seb58 I love your description of "cajoling sellers" into selling you attachments separately. I once bought an entire Singer 27 just for the # 81717 obsolete bobbin winder attached to it. :eek:

Matt

I have a walking foot that is slanted and made for a Singer. At least in a Singer box. It was in a box of sewing stuff at a yard sale. No way I would pay that price for one. I tried it out on my old Singer and it does okay but can't compare to the newer ones made for my newer machines. It can't even out walk my $350 Eversewn. LOL I can't see paying that much to have one to use. Buy a $350 Eversewn, the foot comes free.

I'm flabbergasted!! The price!! Yet, one has to admit, this is a cute attachment! It really lives up to its name "walking foot" :)

As for cajoling the sellers, I mostly do that when the thing I want is too far away for me to drive and collect it along with the machine and posting the machine would be impossible. However, I once had a nice man from a town 3h away send me a Singer 127 (decals ruined) just because I wanted to salvage the needle plate and the hinges that attach to a cabinet lol the listing was for 7€ so even with postage it was really quite reasonable. As a bonus, there was a nice bundle of attachments (old-style ruffler, underbraider, shirring plate...) :p

[QUOTE=Seb58;8295040]I'm flabbergasted!! The price!! Yet, one has to admit, this is a cute attachment! It really lives up to its name "walking foot" :)

Yet another sighting -- another "penguin" just sold on ebay. Check out the price!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Sin...-/193081421762

Oh my... Lucky seller!