British Isles

The only thing that is Harbour lights about the British Isles is the name. 15 of these sets have been sent to the US through the All Things Nautical website. The past couple of months an other 4 has entered the US. The lighthouses were made for the British market at John Hines Studios in England in 2000. Harbour lights was not involved in the design or any aspect of making them. They are made of plaster instead of the cold cast porcelain that Harbour Lights uses. This makes the British Isles very prone to breakage. The British are not into collectables like the Americans and The British Isle did not sell well in the UK

The British Isles is no way in the category of Pharos collection, which was designed, and Marketed by Harbour Lights. They lack the detail such as was with the Pharos and many collectors compare the British Isles with the style of the early Harbour Lights. I feel you don’t have to have the British Isles collection to say you have all the Harbour Lights, but since it does have the Harbour Light name it would definitely make a nice complement to a HL collection.

The British Isles apparently are more rare than the Pharos but still doesn’t carry the secondary value that the Pharos has. The British Isles will need to get some recognition from more collectors before its value will go up. The fact that one was given away at the reunion will help them. Even though there doesn’t seem to be much of a demand for them, if you want one good luck in finding them.