To Y'all -

Was out of town during the major portion of the LE/OE/Signature discussion, but just can't pass up the opportunity to give the ol' dead horse one more kick.

1. Somebody pointed out that if I'm not (or say I'm not) really interested in the value of my collection then I'm either fooling myself or trying to fool you. I say BALDERDASH!!!
I collect because I like the lighthouses I buy. I'm (personally) not going to spend money on a lighthouse I don't find aesthetically pleasing just because it might "be worth something someday" or because it's an LE. (EG - I don't like Ida Lewis Rock - why should I buy it just because it's out there?) My own personal bent is to purchase LE's and Society pieces that relate to the East and Gulf coasts, it doesn't mean I have to buy EVERY piece along that stretch. The only reference to $$ I make is whether or not I have enough with me to buy the lighthouse I want when I want it. (Don't worry, I don't have a boat so whether or not to choose between a tank of gas and a lighthouse is NOT a consideration.)

2. I collect - not obsess. I don't need (or necessarily want) to have every sculpture Harbour Lights has ever made. If collecting ever gets to the point where it's not fun - I'll stop. (And no - it's not like giving up smoking.)

3. I still have enough horizontal surfaces to display my pieces. When I don't - I won't buy more. Call me silly, but if I can't display what I've collected, why bother. It does me no good to keep some sculptures in their boxes in a closet. I display my collection for me - I enjoy it.

4. Okay, so maybe I'm not a serious collector (whatever that is!), but I'm enjoying the h#@% out of whatever it is I am doing. Consider the following:

Collect: To accumulate as a hobby or for study.

Hobby: An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

pleasure: A source of enjoyment or delight; Amusement, diversion, or worldly enjoyment

(Nothing I see in the above includes becoming apoplectic about whether or not BY should issue a Signature Series - and whether, if he does, it should be LE or OE.)

5. If you don't like what Younger & Associates are doing business-wise, don't buy. Certainly, contact them with your concerns. Any business worth its salt listens to its customers. But lets face it, if they decide tomorrow to create sculptures of famous tenement buildings in the Bronx (signed by former Mayor Ed Koch), it's their call. You can always switch over to Beanie Babies

6. Don't take yourself - or me for that matter - too seriously.

7. The horse may now be ready for the ALPO factory.


DISCLAIMER: This message was actually prepared by those dang cows who snuck into the family room, surreptitiously obtained my password and sent this out while they had me tied to a milking machine in the barn.

Paul F. - Vter
(Somewhere out behind the barn)

^^^^^
@ @