About Antique Sewing Machines

Video Transcript

"So, you have that antique sewing machine, setting around your house, and you're not quite sure what it's worth. My name is Blake Kennedy, and I'm a certified appraiser. I'm here today, at Patty and Friends Antique Mall, in St. Petersburg, Florida. That's one of the most common questions I get, as an antique appraiser, is hey, my grandmother had an antique sewing machine. What is it worth? Oh, by the way, it's a Singer. The Singer is one of the most common names, but sewing machines are a very hard sell, and very hard to appraise, but people think that they're worth a lot of money, because their grandparents used it, and it was well used. You have the tabletop models, and you even have the, they even called me, and said, It even has the pedal driven sewing machines. It's just, the value on sewing machines has really depreciated, because people only really collect what they remember, and sewing machines are not what they remember, and they're not really using them today. One of the most popular sewing machines that is still selling, is the Singer Featherweight, the Singer Featherweight 221. This is not a model of that. It usually, generally comes in a black case. They even come in a white model, where the sewing machine is white. It's a little bit more popular, not popular, worth a little bit more money, because it's white, but the most common one is the black Featherweight, so not all sewing machines are, not worth that much money, the Featherweight is. This particular model is a Singer, and I get a lot of people going, Oh, but it's a Singer, and I ask if it's in a box, and they say, Yes, it's in a box, but it is not one of the Featherweights. It still works, and somebody will be happy with this, but the price just isn't there. They generally go for about seventy five, eighty five dollars, and they don't sell that fast, because in today's market, you can go buy a brand new one, that works perfectly, for practically the same price, and that's what brought the value down on the sewing machines, but if you have one of the Featherweights, ask around. They go between two fifty and two seventy five. My name is Blake Kennedy. I hope that helped."