Part of me echoes those sentiments while another part of me realizes the realities involved in offering quality collectibles to collectors. I'm a member of the old-time collectors and would love to see the practice of "one light/one limited edition only" carry on forever, but we already know that isn't going to happen. We bought into that several years ago, but as Dylan sang, "The times they are a changing...".

Are we selfish? Are we only thinking of our personal collecting needs? What about a new collector who really wants a great replica of Admiralty Head? Should old-time collectors tell them to buy the small rather expensive HL101 and live with it?

Admit it, the new version of Admiralty Head is an extremely well-done HL. Any lover of that light would be proud to add it to his or her collection. Would the purchaser of the new version ever be interested in hunting down and buying the original? I would guess, probably not.

The collectors of old are a dying breed. This select group is not dead yet, but have been severely reduced in numbers. Our network of traditional HL collectors gets smaller each year. The new generation doesn't quite feel like the old-timers. The passion isn't being passed on to the new folks in general. Most new people much rather buy what they like and leave it at that. They don't find each and every new release as interesting as when this whole show began back in the early nineties. Think what you may but this is now a fact of business life for Harbour Lights. Are they caught between a rock and a hard place? There is a delicate balance of making a buck and keeping the faithful followers of HL's happy. So far, I would give Harbour Lights a passing grade in maintaining that balance.

Bob