Collectors sometimes amaze me, but .....
 

.....THIS IS INSANITY!

{ http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewitem...temid=20088330 }


If buying and collecting sewing machines is going in this direction, I'll be out of it pretty soon.
I've already seen prices of normal machines escalating, and considering the finite quantity of these older ones, and the QB's members penchant for hording ..... 'er collecting them, I'm not surprised.
But a batch of Singer stuff for over 7 hundred? INSANITY I say, pure INSANITY!

JMHO

Joe

Yes it is crazy. But I think more and more quilters are finding that the older DSM were built much better than the cheap plastic one made today.

Joe, I so totally agree. Greed, greed, greed

Joe,
this has the penguin walking foot in the collection....hence the wild bidding. I personally wouldn't pay that much but to each his own. I know they go for high prices. Coming with the original box and manual I'm sure helps too. I'm curious what the green rectangle with two screw holes is. I've seen it before but don't remember. I'm sure someone here will tell us.

Yup - the penguin foot with box and instructions will bring $600-$700 on ebay now. I've bid on things sold at Goodwill figuring I was willing to pay my price plus $200 donation.

I'm now kicking myself for not buying a penguin foot when they were around the $500 mark. So I may never have one if I don't luck into one!

OK, Thanks for pointing out the penguin. I missed it when I first looked at the items. I still think this is ridiculous but now it's a bit easier to understand.

Joe

Cathy, any idea what the green rectangular piece of metal is?

I'm curious about the green rectangle part too. I don't recognize it. I DID see that walking foot, but the price is more than I want it for!

The bids started at 6.99. I wonder if someone messed up on a decimal point. Maybe should be 70.01?

that makes more sense to me than 25 or 50 or 300 machines "saved from the dump" :)

I've got that little oil can, so cute.

Someone tell me what a penguin is for a sewing machine?

Barny, it is a vintage Singer walking presser foot. The concept would be similar to today's walking foot in that it held the layers of fabric together and kept them from shifting while sewing. The Penguin got its name because it has two separate "feet" and when advancing the fabric it looks like a penguin waddling side to side. I'm sure others can describe it more clearly. Lol.

It's interesting the GW employee posting this took a special picture of some bobbins but neglected to bring attention to the Penguin, box and manual. They are probably scratching their heads if someone hasn't explained the interest to them.

Please read the other comments. It went high because of the walking foot.

Let's keep in mind that millions of these things were made in a factory - not by hand - there are plenty out there. Altho the penguin waddling aspect sounds really cute....

I have a white walking foot that looks an awful lot like that black one. Were penguins only black?

And did u noticed the FW at bottom of screen at over $600 ?????

And Miriam ...yes they only came in black, they stood upright behind the needle area whereas those white ones lay down kinda longwise....

I would love to stand my white walking foot up next to a black one and see the differences. This one has no Singer marking. I got it in a box of old attachments. I also have some more modern walking feet. It is modeled by Miss 15-75 my favorite beat up old lady.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]511649[/ATTACH]
and how she is attached:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]511650[/ATTACH]
Every time I shoot a picture I see more to clean - she's had hours at the spa already...

That lot of goodies went for $899.99 + shipping.

I need a time machine so I could go back in time and buy a bunch of these things, then bring them forward. I could fund my retirement just selling them.

Joe

People must be getting their taxes back and have money to burn!

The funny thing about shopgoodwill is they will spend more there than they will if the same item is on Craig's List - ask me how I know......

Or a lot of times, eBay.

Joe

Well, it'd be way out of my budget. My mortgage payment is less than that! LOL! Of course, we built the house a long time ago, long before the housing boom that put a lot of folks in bankruptcy!

Jeanette

That's it exactly. Every year about this time people get stupid on the auction sites.

Cari

I'll have to keep that in mind for selling.
Now I just need something to sell...
rodney

Rodney if you sell all the machines you have you would have to buy new machines... :)

Just googled Penguin foot. Can easily see why it so called. Truly reminded me of a penguin walking.

Wow! I see this stuff at the thrift store pretty often. Guess I should snatch it up and sell it.

Annette - it's just the penguin foot (walking presser foot) - the rest probably would sell for $25 - for ALL of it. If you want to buy Singer attachments with plans to resell at a profit, you need to know which are the rare ones and which are the ones that sold with every machine.

This is a good "list" though I'd add a few more (guide foot, tube trimmer, machine pinker for a few of them)

http://april1930s.corecommerce.com/A...carce-to-Find/

Oh, OK. I don't have my glasses on, and can't see that tiny picture.

Thanks!

I was in Michigan in the fall and I seen four different feather weights in an antique store and all were between 500 and 800 dollars.

Antique dealers seem to be only partially in this world and partially in some other reality...

I was in a local antique store and saw a BEAUTIFUL New Home treadle. I asked about the price and was told $675!!!

I grabbed my phone, opened my nationwide CL search tool and showed them 10 ads with the same machine in approximately the same condition, all listed for more then 2 months and at less than $300... I asked if they were willing to reconsider, and was told "Nope, I think this price is appropriate and it will sell for that price"

Two months later, it is still there...

Antique dealers don't have a lick of sense. I don't know if it's greed, fantasy or ego, but as you said they do not live in reality.

Joe

Sometimes it works out though - when we bought that nice Pfaff 130 in the neat cabinet with the chair - it was sitting next to an old, rather beat up New Home Treadle, priced at $395 that had been there since I started looking a few years ago. The Pfaff had no price, so the clerk called the owner - when she told her it was the "newer one, from the 40's - the owner said $55. I was shocked, but glad. Owner figured the older New Home (antique ) was worth a lot and the non-antique not so. I wasn't about to inform the owner that the Pfaff was worth about $150 and the New Home about $100.

I've gotten a few bargain featherweights at antique malls but sewing machine prices (and everything else) is generally very high. What I hate most is when I visit the antique stores and the inventory is the same from month to month. I get the idea many of the antique malls are for storage rather than an honest effort to sell.

Jon

What those dealers don't realize is they aren't running an antique shop they are running a museum. Usually museums have endowments....

The other possibility is that they are using those items to draw you in to get you to look at other items therefore they don't want them to sell.

Nice thought but 90% of the items were overpriced to that level. The few items I bought at reasonable prices seemed to surprise the seller that I was interested, next visit, those were 2x the price I previously paid..

I've come across two types of "dealers" - those that are doing it to make money, and that are acutally hoarders in disguise.

I could easily rent a booth for $35 a month, and then store all my machines in a nice, clean, climate controlled building. And I could put " in my dreams" prices on the, because, well, if someone wants it that bad, I'm willing to part with it.