@ REx, Ebay is the worst place to accurtely price how much anything "vintage" is worth. i have extremely rare machines in my collection as well, and only two i paid more than $50 for. only one over $100 and it wasnt even rare, i just didnt know better 4 years ago. my mean purchase price for vintage machines is $10-$30,even today.
the problem is most people honestly dont want to put forth the effort to go beyound the laziness of ebay for aquire items, espeically rare ones. i find 90% of my machines from other collectors with dupes, estate sales, flea markets, thrift stores, and vacuum shop trade in rooms.
i do restore rare machines in rough shape, but most of my machines just need a polish,new bag/belt/bulb, and general clean up.
any good hobby is about networking, especially with vintage stuff that gets sickly over priced on ebay. i have also employed this sentiment of networking with other hobbies and it greatly reduces costs of hard to find parts and NLA items ( case in point trim parts for my 1984 ford country squire).
ebay is a good place to get stuff, but my friend Sean Curry has instilled in me that jsut because its vintage, doesnt mean i should have to pay vintage prices for it. this has worked well for me will be happy to help others avoid the ebay disases discouraging people from rare items in any hobby.
