One of my sewing machines is a New Home 445 from the early 60's (I
think). I was messing around on ebay (just looking at the listings, not
really "shopping" for anything). Well,anyway, there were 2 listings for
New home 445's on it (there were actually more than that, I think, but I
am just gonna talk about the 1st 2 I found). First let me describe and
link to both listings.
This is the first:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-NEW-HOME-Janome-Sewing-Machine-Model-445-Japan/273197826266?hash=item3f9bdc00da:g:z9YAAOSwMLha72~-.
The opening bid for it is 19.99, and the "buy it now price" is 49.99.
If it is in working order, I think that is a very good price for what I
think is a very solid, stable machine.
However, the shipping on it is $71 for standard and $77 for expedited
shipping. It also does not come with a foot pedal or any other
accessories. For instance, if you want the cams that come with it, you
need to buy those separately, and I found a set of those as well for
$20+S&H. If you want a manual or more(such as a zipper foot, case,
whatever), you would have to buy all that as well. At the very least
you would have to buy a foot pedal for it, which, a cost from 20 to 30
dollars.
The listing also says that the only "testing" that has been done on it
is that the needle goes up and down when the hand wheel is turned, so it probably needs to be taken to a sew and vac shop such as Cathey's for servicing.
So, you could easily spend well over 100 dollars (just the machine +
shipping + foot pedal + servicing, the minimum needed, is over $100 and
could be close to $200 depending on the cost of servicing). Even after
all of that you are not guaranteed a working machine, though I think
that the 445 is a solidly built machine (at least the one I have is) and
I think the actual risk is fairly small.
The other listing is:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Janome-New-Home-445-Sewing-Machine-Teal-Blue-w-Case-Japan/272915773062?hash=item3f8b0c3686:g:ZP4AAOSwE-lZ~myv.
It appears to have just a "buy it now price" of $139.99 (there is no
place to enter a bid, so it is perhaps an item that is not being
auctioned), and is a more "complete" machine with a case(or at least the listing says it has one), a foot pedal, a manual, and an accessories box (though what it contains, spare needles, extra presser feet, whatever,
it does not say, but I don't think it is "just the box").
The listing also says that the only testing that has been done is that
the needle moves up and don when the foot pedal is pressed, it was not
tested to see if it actually sews, but again, I suspect it does. It
also says that it probably should be serviced, and that the shipping
cost is $82.18, at least to where I live.
Therefore, the total minimum price is 139(machine) + 82.18(shipping) +?(servicing) for a price of I would guess of about 250 to 300 dollars.
The first machine costs less, at least if you get the absolute minimum required, though it might cost just as much if you get extra presser
feet, find some kind of case that will work, etc. The second machine
costs a bit more if you get the the absolute minimum, but the absolute
minimum is a "complete" machine (with foot pedal, carrying case, and
manual).
I suppose on either one you are taking some risk on spending all that
money and getting a non-working machine, but since the 445 is a solid
well built machine (at least mine is), I really don't think the risk is
that high.
So, I guess after all that, which one, if either, would you buy if you
were in the market for a vintage machine, would you look at more
entries, would you look for one that has actually been tested in actual
sewing before buying one online, or what.
Now that I think about it while typing this message out, if I were in
the market for a vintage machine, I would want to try and find a machine
that had been tested in actual sewing.
--
My Yonkoma:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brian0908/albums/72157680223526176
The E-mail associated with the account is a "spamcatcher" account that I
got to every couple of months to empty out, and anything sent to it will
not be seen for probably several months, if it is seen at all.
Brian Christiansen
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