Like most people, I collect HLs because I love them. Like most people, I probably will never own them all. Yet I guess that like most people, I'm interested in what the secondary market thinks of my treasures. Not just the ones I own and the ones I want, but the overall interest in the line on the secondary market. I think that's important for the life of the line and the viability of Y&A.

Here's where I might be getting into trouble with a lot of other collectors: I think eBay is good (mostly). Good for HLs in the long run. Good for new collectors in the short run. I believe that eBay is redefining the secondary market, and has been for some time. It's the democratization of the secondary market, and it's moving the "dogs" off the retailer's shelves and into strong hands. This is good, even if the prices are suffering, short-term.

To track the economic pulse of the line, I'm going to start tracking stuff on eBay, similar to what Fred had started a few months back, but targeting a few particular pieces and keeping track of them over time. I envision (after a few months of data collecting) setting up a downloadable Excel worksheet. (Tim, I may need your help here.)

I've already started collecting data as of January 1, 2000. I am tracking 30 models:

• *HL103 West Quoddy Head
  *HL108 Burrows Island
  *HL117 Boston Harbor
  *HL118 Old Mackinac
  *HL124 Split Rock
  *HL126 Nauset Beach
  *HL135 Ocracoke Island
  *HL138 St. Augustine
  *HL139 Barnegat
  *HL140 Diamond Head
  *HL141 Cape Neddick
  *HL142 Holland
  *HL143 Montauk Point
  *HL145 Assateague
  *HL156 Point Arena
  *HL158 Currituck
  *HL168 Cape May
  *HL175 Cape Lookout
  *HL181 Thomas Point
  *HL189, HL190 Morris Island, T&N
  *HL194 Sanibel Island
  *HL196 Cape Henry
  *HL209 Cape Florida
  *HL225 Hillsboro Inlet
  *HL501 Point Fermin
  *HL602 Sunken Rock
  *HL603 Edgartown
  *HL700 Big Bay Point
  *HL701 Colchester Reef
  *HL704 White Shoal

These are models that I find interesting for a variety of reasons. Taken together, I think they comprise a meaningful profile of the HL line in the secondary market. I'm trying not to waste my time on the "commodity" pieces (Selkirk, et al), nor look endlessly for the occasional Coquille which I believe will never sell frequently enough to provide meaningful data.

Of course I needed to set some operational definitions for what I would count and what I would not. Here's my attempt at this:

• *Only pieces actually sold will be included. No pieces with zero bids or "reserve not met" are to be included. Transactions in which there is both a buyer and a seller are the only legitimate barometers of market price, imo.
  
  *Auctions are located using eBay's sort feature for completed items. Search criterion is:
  
  "Harbour Lights (Search Name)",
  
  where (Search Name) is a root form of the model name chosen to minimize overlooking auctions. For example, Cape Henry's search name might be simply "Henry" in case someone lists a piece as "C. Henry" or such. Bad example, but I think you know what I mean.
  
  *No attempt will be made to seek out listings where the name of the piece has been misspelled ("Harbor Lights" instead of "Harbour Lights;" "Naversink" instead of "Navesink").
  
  *After the search, the results will be manually narrowed to the correct model number and other criteria.
  
  *No special pieces such as lightning rods, artist's proofs, variations, etc. will be knowingly included, since there is a unique sub-market for those pieces, and the infrequency of their appearance makes them hard to track as such.
  
  *I will attempt to NOT include items that are damaged or missing their original boxes, as advertised by the seller.
  
  *Customary shipping prices will not be included in the figures. Single pieces exceeding $10 for shipping will have the excess added to the price shown.

I include these rules so that others can track other pieces and we can then compare apples and apples. I encourage others to adopt some pieces so we can cover even more of the breadth of the line.

For each closed auction that meets the criteria above I am recording

• *the date the auction closes
  *the winning bid amount, and
  *the total number of bids.

How about it? Anyone else want to adopt a model (or 30 ?) Just sign-in below!

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-Art