Up in the Sweetness and Light forums there's the start of yet another discussion on what is a collectible. This time in the context of HL's portending release of the This Little Light of Mine series. These are a bunch of mini-scale models, the first pictures of which cover models they've already made. (Nice thing about them lighthouses - the real ones don't change much over time.)

JC, ever the defender and explainer of all things Y and A offers these morsels...



Right... Pennies, and string, and Art's sea shells are a collectible. Anything you can acquire is collectible. BUT! Not everything is a Collectible. And while the world mishes and mashes words and meanings into whatever is convenient, for me at least, there's a difference between acquiring stuff and collecting a Collectible.

A Collectible is something that has limited availability, is valued as defined by the marketplace, and is desirable. These factors, along with its uniqueness define the Collectible's success.

When HL first started their line of Limited Edition Collectible Lighthouse Models, they promoted them as exactly that, Collectibles. These models, with their proscribed production sizes, were designed from the get-go to have limited availability and (so the Youngers certainly hoped) desirability. Having worked w/ David Winter, BY knew all about Collectibles. The combination of limited availability and desirability is exactly the 1-2 punch he hoped to achieve. The combination of limited production coupled with their high quality relative to other lighthouse models made them unique and gave this line of 'by-design' (or manufactured) Collectibles a real chance of making it.

Once a successful Secondary Market sprang up where the models were selling for more than they cost, Y&A knew they had a winner. I'll spot the strong emergence of a Secondary Market for HL LEs somewhere in the 93-94 timeframe. (If you've got a different date, OK fine, but it was obviously in full swing by the second half of 94.)

Then - imo - they screwed up. They tried introducing Open Edition models of lights they had never released before. At that time, the folks who'd bought into collecting their by-design Collectibles rightly raised a fuss. HL retracted this approach and vowed not to issue Open Editions of Limited Editions they hadn't previously released and to hold off till the LE retired before it was 're-released' as an OE. The first 'real' OEs were smaller, cheaper, and not quite as elaborate as the Limiteds. When they did release Open Editions they - again imo - screwed up big time by numbering the Open Editions. Now many think the newer OEs are nicer than their matching cousins.

I'm not knocking Y&A business success or Y&A people (they're wonderful people). BUT! from the perspective of a collector of Collectibles, as someone who bought into their pitch of limited availability, desirability and value, I've got to say phooey to the Open Editions. Why? because the OEs compromise the LE line's uniqueness. It is the characteristic of uniqueness that attracts people and sets a true Collectible off from collections of stuff. Unique things tend to be desirable and hold their value more than the commonplace. When something that was once unique becomes commonplace, its no longer perceived as having the same attraction to many people. Creation of OEs very similar to the LEs is a sell out of the Collector who bought into the line based on its original premise. Here's where I'll draw on John's car example to try making my point.

Suppose Chevy comes out with a very special car called the Newvette which they say right up front is a limited edition - only so many will be made and then production stops. Newvettes ain't cheap, but they're unique, very nice, and sell out. Turns out however that Chevy is a one a trick pony - they tried making a new car called the BayAir, but it didn't sell very well. So a year later Chevy comes out with a car called the Newvette II that is essentially the same as the Original Newvette, but it has a nicer paint job, every tom dick and harry can afford it, and Chevy sez they'll make enough so anybody who wants one can buy. Chevy created something desirable, marketed it as a limited edition exclusive, then, once it was established as A Special Thing in the public eye, they turned around and sold cheaper attractive knock-offs of their own product. And the Newvette II sold like hotcakes. Wow - what a racket!

All the people who were too late or too poor to buy the real Newvette could now own one. And since there's always a whole lot more folks who are too late or too poor than the group who saw the original Newvette as a truly special car, it was their voices that Chevy heard. And why not, there's gold in them there Newvette IIs. But the buyers of the original Newvette no longer had something unique.

So whats it all mean? I dunno. :-) In the world of collectibles-by-design you pays your money and takes your chances. I'm sure there are more new lines of things labeled as 'Limited Edition Collectibles' that fail than suceed. And nowadays you can bet that when a Collectible turns out to be real successful, somebody will come along with a copycat product. Lines of things that are conceived out of thin air - like Beanie Babies - have a certain amount of protection built in. Mattel can't make a doll thats too close to what a Ty looks like and call it it a 'Beanie Buddy' - they'd get hauled into court. (Still this sort of thing happens all the time). With lighthouses models, its a little different. They're copies of something that exists in the real world, so naturally any two company's models of the same light will look pretty much the same, up to a point. But you usually don't expect one company to cannibalize itself.

Ok Ok - this is getting long, and I hear the "if you wanna invest, buy stock" mewlers approaching. (Quickly donning my kevlar fogtender hat - why do you think I moved to the FSB - vbg). I collect HL LEs (present tense) cause I like 'em - but I also liked (past tense) what made 'em different from the CSCs and Leftons - namely that they had a strong value component derived from their uniqueness - the thing that set HL apart from the others (limited availability + quality + desirability). The constant repetition of the same thing by the same company (OEs of LEs, whether GLOWs or Minis) destroys some of the uniqueness of the Collectible Limited Editions on the basis of which BY originally pitched the series.

You might disagree with me, but the marketplace doesn't. Extremism in the defense of Collectibility is no vice. LOL!

Regardless of your view, I'll surely enjoy your reply. Now, where are those little sandwiches.

Rgds,
__
/im
[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 11-20-99).]