Bill's Collection - Update

I'm starting a new thread because the previous one has gotten off topic with a lot of speculative listing, etc.

I spoke with Bill today and here's what I posted on Facebook:



Updates will be posted when available both here and on Facebook.

Thanks John for the update.

John
Where is Bill Younger at on selling the remains of his personal collection of Harbour Lights.

John - In reading your last post it sounded like Bill would have reached his decision by the New Year. Inquiring minds want to know.

The whole project ran into all kinds of issues that there was no recourse but to shelve it at this time.. The next time I talk to Bill I will address the project to see if any new ideas have come up to resolve the issues, but at this time it isn't happening..

Thanks for the update.

Thanks Paul

The legal issues that Bill and Nancy ran into to sell his collection to raise money for his favorite charity Smile Train have forced the Youngers to do it using eBay and then donate all the funds they raise to Smile Train themselves..

I will be posting the first group they are going to post in ebay using a close friend of theirs eBay account on February 10th.. Their friend has since found out that eBay will only allow their friend to post 100 per month so that may change their offerings a bit differently than Harry's email states..

Bill Younger's Harbour Lights

Should be interesting, a lot of great stuff on this first list !!

Is this batch going to posted as a group or as individual items?

Everything is to be sold individually, I believe.. These offerings have a twofold purpose, first to raise money for Smile Train and secondly to share these pieces with Harbour Lights Collectors.. I guess there is a third purpose, give Bill and Nancy space in their new garage...

Hello all, I am in on one but does anyone have the entire list that will be sold over the next few weeks? Looking for a couple of pieces and to have #1 would be cool :) but need to keep budget in mind.

The thin #102 Cape Hatteras is now over 1K.

The HL102 is now at $1500, which is fantastic for Smile Train.. There is another Hatteras that doesn't have a bid on it at this time.. It is a special #1A, the auction is titled "Bill Younger's Harbour Lights * # A1 * Cape Hatteras GLOW" actually it is a GAL not a GLOW. It was released as Great American Lighthouse which was changed to GLOW after the first few were released as GAL's, which was an already trademarked name by another company..

The HL102 is now at $2000, I don't ever remember an original Cape Hatteras 102 (1st mold) ever being auctioned on Ebay with competitive bidding, these have generally changed hands privately. So it should be very interesting to see what the market actually is for this piece. Does anyone else remember a 1st mold HL 102 with competitive bidding before and if so what did it/they sell for ?

I'm not wanting to put a damper on Bill selling his collection, but, several of the #1's that I looked at are Malaysian made rather than Canadian as the Number 1's indicates it should be. The one's that are involved are Michigan City (Malaysian/No Rod), Hilton Head (Malaysian), Portland Breakwater (Malaysian) and finally Key West (Malaysian). Buyer beware !!

It's nice to have a Number 1 but it would be nicer to have the correct country that it should be. This is only to make you aware if you didn't know.

The #1's aren't always the first ones produced, in fact there were several #1 through #10 releases that weren't numbered until after the first run of orders were filled. Canadian production was so slow HL's couldn't keep up wit the demand for product for the stores.. The country is correct for the #1 if they didn't number #1 through #10 until later in the production run.. You are incorrect in your assumption Rich..

Thanks Paul for explaining further. I just wanted members to be aware of this as I found out the hard way whenI bought a Minot's Ledge from Lighthouse Depot that was supposed to be a Canadian with green water by serial number and it turned out to be a Malaysian with blue water. I was really disappointed.

Fortunately I was able to trade with Daniel as he needed a blue water version and had an extra green water version.

Thought I would answer Mark Wagner's
"I don't ever remember an original Cape Hatteras 102 (1st mold) ever being auctioned on Ebay with competitive bidding" Question.
I remember several 1st Molds sold on e-bay, probably 9-10 years ago don't remember what they sold for. But I Sold one around 2006 or 2007 on e-Bay. It sold for $4000.00+
So the $2000 bid is a good for this at today's Market.
Twiggy

I see the Coquile river from Bill's collection has a reduced price .....

I know a HL102 Hatteras #266 sold for $4500 a long time ago

I would say that the first round of auctions of Bill's Harbour Lights was a tremendous success for Smile Train.. The original Hatteras went for $4,001.00..

Any word on the next round? I was outbid on the two pieces I was interested. Anybody here win?

I was out bid on a few pieces too, so nothing for me

I was outbid on the Ponce Inlet AP.

I got the two I wanted, the Artist proof Cape Blanco and the California made West quoddy. I felt I knew what they would go for and bid accordingly. But I must admit there was a few that surprised me. $300 for the Cape Neddick and almost $400 for the Nauset Beach. And the biggest surprise was over $4000 for the Cape Hatteras CH1 (was that a black tip?) That is 1998 bidding price right there.

The other surprise in the opposite realm was only $57.87 for a California made Old point Loma # 88 and only $71.99 for the California made North Head #90 for only $71.99

All in all I think the biddings were well received and Jackie did a professional job in bidding the lights. Excellent descriptions and very good pictures.

Unless there is a black tip AND a dark green tip the first mold cape hatteras the dark color is a very dark green

Somewhat glad to hear that I wasn't the only one shut out on the bids. Just crazy and I tried on 6 lights. Next round will be even more interesting.

I was able to score the artist proof of Seguin Island. Price was very reasonable.

Latest information is that there will be a posting of a new batch of pieces this coming Sunday 24th, I will hopefully be able to post a list of them this Friday..

The big winner of these auctions was Smile Train!!

Big winner indeed..... the first round raised a total of $14,002.61 for Bill's favorite charity! Congratulations!

What an exciting round. I can't wait to see the next group of pieces......

That’s fantastic Christopher, but remember that isn't all clear profit. I don’t remember exactly but doesn’t it cost over 20% for eBay and Paypal? It would be nice if eBay was free for charities.

I am not sure of the exact cost but I think eBay and paypal are lower like 6-8%, and I believe eBay does have a lower price for known charities but this is not a registered charity (with eBay) I don't think those who are buying the pieces could even use it as a tax deduction

I believe Mark is correct on the % that eBay gets and the buyers can't use as a tax deduction, that is why Bill and Nancy were trying to do it another way so the buyers could but it didn't work out that way because of legal problems..

Okay
I looked it up on Ebay and here is the answer.

The pay Pal cost
Sales within the US:2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
Discounted Merchant Rate: As low as 2.2% based on volume.
Discounted Rate for Eligible Nonprofits: As low as 2.2% based on volume.
International Sales: 3.9% transaction fee plus a fixed fee based on currency received.

The cost for Ebay is 9% of the total amount of each item (max $250) and $0.75 for each listing with a starting price at $29

Not counting for any discounts:

So the standard cost would be 2.9% + $0.30 + 9% + $0.75 each item = 11.9% of sale + $1.05 per item sold.

($14,002.61 x 11.9% = $1,610) + (63 items x $1.05 = $66.15) =$1676.15 for selling fees

Thanks for the update Daniel, I know eBay has been slowly raising the cost over time and a few years back they bought paypal so they wouldn't lose part of a cut in the action

After all that researching and calculating, I am surprised that shipping costs weren't mentioned and subtracted for those 63 items.....

One can't forget that cost too....

Either way you look at it, the first round should have raised close to $10K for a good cause! Not to bad, I would say.

The shipping cost is not included, and is an additional cost on top of the actual price paid for the piece. I am assuming the $14,001.01 was totaled up by looking at the sellers completed auctions and just going down the line and adding them up, it would have been much more work to open each item and add in shipping costs.

The list of the second group of Bill's collection going to be auctioned on eBay...



The first offering of Bill Younger’s auctioned pieces on eBay was a fantastic success. Thank you all so very much.

After much enthusiastic feedback, we are glad to offer you another chance to own some sought after, rare, and in some cases, one of a kind lighthouses from Bill’s Private collection

There are some very interesting pieces this week. There are several paint masters, painted by Christiane Hayles, who was Harbour Lights principal master painter for many years. Christiane would only paint two identical copies of a new sculpture so these paint masters, also known as, artist originals are very rare.



Some years ago my father and Bill Younger whilst wassailing in a pub, hatched a plan to expand the Harbour Lights Collection into England. The idea was for my father, John Hine, to produce special Harbour Lights pieces in his small workshop in Wales. A tiny production run was done of the 12 Pharos Collection Little Lights and a test run of the larger limited edition Pharos pieces. These pieces were primarily sold to gift shops around the UK. Shortly after the initial production run, my father’s small pottery received some large orders for his main collection and production was put on hold for the Harbour Lights pieces and sadly was never revived. Available in this auction is a complete set of the 12 Pharos Collection Little Lights and four Limited Edition Pharos AP pieces that were part of this early test production.

There are several Edition #1’s, two Golds and a white tipped Cape Hatteras (very rare). Please see the complete list of pieces below.

These pieces will be posted on eBay on Sunday, February 24th using Jackie’s auction page. Her eBay handle is "Triplegemini". To find the auctions you can type "Bill Younger’s Harbour Lights" in the eBay search bar.


Bailey's Harbor Range Artist Original/Paint Master

Barnegat GLOW Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Cape Disappointment Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Charleston Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Cuckolds Society Gift Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Hendrickd Head Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Kenosha Pierhead Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Key West GLOW Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Presque Isle Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles

Raspberry Island Artist Original/Paint Master, Painted by Christiane Hayles



Bishop Rock UK Artist Proof

Longstone UK Artist Proof

Old Lundy UK Artist Proof

Trwyn Du UK Artist Proof

Pharos Collection Little Lights UK Pharos Collection Little Lights



Race Point Counter Sample



Barnegat GLOW Limited Edition #1

Battery Point Limited Edition #1

Cape Elizabeth Limited Edition #1

Cape Henry Limited Edition #1

Cove Point Limited Edition #1

Fort Gratiot Limited Edition #1

Grosse Point Limited Edition #1

Haig Point Limited Edition #1

Horton Point Limited Edition #1

Hudson Athens Limited Edition #1

Jeffrey's Hook Limited Edition #1

La Coruna Limited Edition #1

New Dungeness Limited Edition #1

Ocracoke Limited Edition #1

Old Field Christmas 1998 Limited Edition #1

Old Mackinac Limited Edition #1

Old Mission Point Limited Edition #1

Old Saybrook Limited Edition #1

Panama Canal Matched Set Limited Edition #1

Portland Head Limited Edition #1

Rose Island Reunion Matched set Limited Edition #1

Sankaty Head Limited Edition #1

Sherwood Point Limited Edition #1

Statue of Liberty Limited Edition #1

Tarrytown Limited Edition #1

Tillamook Limited Edition #1

Cape May GLOW1 Open Edition (GLOW) #1

Pemaquid GLOW Open Edition (GLOW) #1

St Joseph GLOW Open Edition (GLOW) #1

Fort Niagara Limited Edition #1082

Coquille River Limited Edition #1127

Old Point Loma Limited Edition #18

Cape Hatteras-White Tip Limited Edition #4

Cape Hatteras- Revised Limited Edition #4946

Sandy Hook Limited Edition #76

New Point Loma 1st Reunion Limited Edition #916

West Quoddy Head Limited Edition #92

North Head Limited Edition #98



Golden Gate Bridge GOLD Limited Edition GOLD Plated pewter

SE Block Island on the move GOLD Limited Edition GOLD Plated pewter



Cana Island Paint Sample Paint Sample

Marble Head Paint Sample

Old Mackinac Paint Sample



The purpose of this auction is to raise money for a truly worthy charity, Smile Train. This admirable group transforms young lives by performing thousands of cleft pallet surgeries around the world.



I hope you find something of interest in this offering. Thank you for your support and good luck with your bids.



Best Regards,

Harry Hine

Is there a link for the new batch posted today?

Is there a link for the new batch posted today?

Just go to EBAY and search on Bill Youngers Harbour Lights.

Rich - that did not work I need the link.

Hcs, they have not been put up yet, the last batch started going up after 6:00pm central time two weeks ago, so I would check back later this afternoon or this evening

Basically Mark is correct. In The first auction the first item was entered @ 4:55 PM PST & the last listing was @ 8:25 PM PST (you can adjust times based on where you live) which indicates it took 3 1/2 to enter the listings. I would expect the current group will take a similar amount of time to list since there are about the same number of pieces to be listed.

For those that aren't aware, an easy way to check when the items are listed is by using the seller name triplegemini. Go to the eBay advanced search page, click on search by seller & enter the name noted. You can then make that a favorite page or bookmark it. It then can be used for the current and future BY auctions. An additional benefit is on the left side of the seller page is a link marked completed listings to check & click to see the complete results of the first listings sold.

Good luck to those that are bidding.

mg

Does anyone know how many "batches" they are are going to be doing?

In the original posting by Paul Brady, the email from Harry Hine said they anticipate 6 offerings, so if they are sticking to that plan, today's batch is the second of six offerings

The question is:

To spend your money on what’s offed now or hold out for something possibly better later own.
I think it is a smart maneuver for Bill, Harry and Jackie not to reveal all of them at once. But feed us so many at a time.
The first list of Bill’s collection was a feeler on prices and I think it caught many off-guard. They went for pre-2006 prices. So if you want something be prepared to pay for it.

There may only end up being 5 offerings, still could be 6 though..

Were ALL the first offerings sold??? If all are not sold(during any of the offerings) will they be put up again??
Rick

All of the first batch was sold.
The lowest was $32.67 (Cape Blanco # 668) and the highest was The original Cape Hatteras for $4,001.01

I think the Coquille River listed as a Buy-It-Now for $625.00 was not sold UNLESS this is a second Coquille River listed this time as a Buy-It-Now for another $625.00.

The last Coquille River was sold and its number was 1106 . This one is number 1127

Well, another GREAT round of pieces totaling $15,234.17!

I think this round was much more exciting and offered some EXCELLENT "one-of-a-kind" items that you and I will probably never see again; like the No. 4 "White-Tip" Cape Hatteras, and the Pharos.

Thank the LORD that I was able to win the only piece that I "truly, truly" wanted, for the sake of my marriage, as I gave my other piece to my wife (girlfriend at the time) back in 1999 while we were in OBX having Bill sign it.

I can't wait to see the next group of pieces......

Christopher
What Lighthouse did you win?
To me it looks like most of the deals were in the first batch.
This time the competition was merciless. All of them sold except for the Coquille river with the "buy it now". Sixteen of the lighthouses sold for over $200 and Eleven of the collection went for below $100. The lowest priced lighthouse was the La Coruna, Spain Flag number 1 for $41.77 and the Highest was of course the white tipped CH1 for $4,005.55.
I don’t want to discourage anyone from bidding. I think there will be enough Number 1’s and others, to go around. You don’t know what you can get unless you try.

I bid on three different lights and did not win any of them. But I am going to give it a try again on the next round.

I put a bid in for one, but did not get it.

Well, I bid on 11 and landed two. The Bailey's Harbor Paint Master and the white tip Cape Hatteras. Hoping to land a Coquille. Will depend on what else shows up.

Nice going Randall !!

Congradulations Randall.
Just incase you didn't know, a paint sample of the Bailey's Harbor sold for $1000 at the 2004 St Augustine dinner with Bill Younger which was the day before the regional. At that time it was the Paint Master. I quess after selling it they had to make another.

Daniel, I believe somewhere in the ongoing conversations about Bill's collection that it was mentioned that there were two paint masters, one stayed at the factory for reference and the other was send to Harbour Lights office, I could be wrong but I thought I read that somewhere.

There were only two paint masters for years then when the company was sold (December 2005) it went to three then to four when it was decided in 2009 that I would get a paint master so I could get the photography done much earlier than when I was getting an AP to shoot..

Randall -

If you want a Coquille why did you not do a Buy It Now at $625.00 on the last piece that did not sell. Are you hoping for a lower number? Curious minds are asking.

Mark
The Bailey’s Harbour as told by Bill Younger at the “Night with Bill” at St Augustine had only one paint master made. There was no counter Samples or Artist Proofs. The person that won the Paint Master Bailey’s harbor could not keep it right away. It was sent to the factory because there was no other.

I was at first surprised to see that there was another Paint master, but after I gave it some thought it would be ridiculous for HL not to make another one.

I have heard the same story as Mark - one for the factory and one for Harry to use for comparison if the need arose. This one would have occurred prior to the company sale, so 2 would have been it.

The Bailey's Harbor was a unique HL, especially at the time. It was to be a one time run of just 500, so there was no need for APs and such to use to sell them. They all went to Door County.

Lee & Judy from MASS bought the paint master at the St. Augustine event for, as I recall, $1000. Turned out to be a nice fund raiser, though I was disappointed the money didn't go to Door County. Earlier in the day Kim was going to just give it away in a drawing until I suggested that it would be a good way to raise some $$ for lighthouse preservation.

There is an explanation of paint masters in the auctions information on each one of Bill's pieces being auctionsed. Here is what it says about paint masters:

Description of pieces in Bill’s collection:

** Paint Masters (or Artist Originals) **

Upon completion of an original Harbour Lights sculpture, castings were made. Typically there were five castings made from each original sculpture. Two of the castings were used to design the paint scheme for the piece and the other three castings were used to make molds for production.

The two castings used to design the paint scheme were referred to as Paint Masters (or Artist Originals). These pieces typically don’t have any metalwork included (hand rails, posts, trees, etc.) The metalwork was designed once the production molds were made two or three generations later. The metalwork was not designed from the first castings because the pieces shrink slightly with each generation. If the metalwork was designed from the first casting it would not fit the production pieces. So you will find the Paint Masters (Artist Originals) lacking metalwork.

There is also information of counter samples, artist proofs, etc. I found it very information.

When I saw an original Cape Hatteras being offered in each of the first two batches, I decided to concentrate on it. I came in second on the first one, which turned out okay, since I got the white tip in the second batch. So that is why I am waiting.

i am anxious to see what appears in the next batches. Maybe a Split Rock flag error or a green water Minot's Ledge. Lots of interesting variations could appear.

Randall
A green water Minot’s Ledge was allready offered at the first listing on ebay. Flag #795 It went for $204.49