Reading Paulie's post about his Pensacola GLOW without the 'A' prefix, makes me wonder why HL chooses to number the Open Editions. I suppose anything goes now-a-days in terms of marketing.

Is it to give the illusion of collectability? Before I was a collector of anything (besides the stamp collection I had as a kid) I always thought 'numbered edition' implied exclusivity - that there actually was an end number and after it was reached no more of the thing are produced. Now, having been exposed to the collectibles industry (its big business) I suppose I should know better.

Granted, an HL GLOW does not say XXXX/NNNN where NNNN is the final edition size. Of course they can't because there is no upper limit on a GLOW edition size.

Unlike the early models, today's GLOWs are almost indistinquishable from Limited Editions in terms of size, decoration, and price. If you were not familiar with HL models, any chance you might think the numbered O.E. implies some form of limited or exclusive production?

Ah, the FSB -
__
/im

"Unlike the early models, today's GLOWs are almost indistinquishable from Limited Editions in terms of size, decoration, and price. If you were not familiar with HL models, any chance you might think the numbered O.E. implies some form of limited or exclusive production?"

I think there is a great chance of it. Especially when you combine it with people at the dealers who are not knowledgeable about all the lines they sell, or not totally forthcoming in their information.

Do you think this aspect (the similarity to LE's) is just a coincidence, or is it just good marketing skills? I suspect it's a little of both. Something has to pay the bills. there is no such thing as a free lunch. I think it's a good thing if it allows the continued development of other more diverse and dynamic LE's.

But what do I know. i'm still new at this.

Dennis

"Unlike the early models, today's GLOWs are almost indistinquishable from Limited Editions in terms of size, decoration, and price." I am not sure that this is as true as it was in past years Tim. It seems to me that the 2000 GLOWs are much smaller in size, and that perhaps HL has heard the message that the serious collectors want them to be of a different size.
Jim
Johnson


[This message has been edited by JimJohnson (edited 09-20-2000).]

They're so similar to LE's by size because some LE's are as small as GLOWs. To me Fisgard and Round Island, MS, could both be GLOWS.

Joanne

Lately, for LEs, Harbour Lights has tried to include more outbuildings (when the tower and house, for example, are separate.) Making these sculptures as large as a piece that has a combined tower/residence (Old Field,) means the footprint of the piece must be larger, and the cost will be greater. HL says they don't want to make the footprint larger and they wanted to keep the costs down (which we have argued for) and so the end result is a smaller scale.

A couple of years back, at one of the trade shows, Kim expressed that a goal for GLOWs was to NOT include as many outbuildings as the LE -- but obviously that didn't apply to the days of the Southern Belles, for example, when in many cases the LE had ONLY a tower.

She referred to a Fenwick Island LE, then newly released, and said that when issued as a GLOW, this might only have one of the homes on it.

This can be seen in the Sanibel GLOW which has only one out building vs. the LE which has two.

If you're a new collector contemplating a purchase (and you're not highly knowledgeable about yearly changes, counting out-buildings, etc.) any chance you might confuse a numbered GLOW with a numbered LE? What information is commonly found at dealers, either provided by them or by HL that educates the buyer about the differences. I realize most folks believe HL can do no wrong - so what's the point behind numbering GLOWs?

Caw, Caw,
__
/im

Tim,
I think most of us are far more knowledgable than the average dealer. Most do not understand the difference between an LE & OE, they are simply pleased to make a sale. Would it be easy to get the wrong idea when dealing with numbered OE's - sure it would. The quality is there, the size is not always that different & both have numbers on them. I am willing to admit that before I became addicted to this place I didn't grasp the full difference.

However, maybe that isn't as important to the casual purchaser. Any way we can get a new enthusiast into the family is fine with me. Hopefully the person who buys a HL, LE or OE, will decide they like it and go back and look for more and look for more information on the whole line when they do.

imvho, fwiw,
Dave

I too do not see a need to number the GLOWs. However, I do wish that they'd make 'em larger. The tiny GLOWS (e.g., St. Augustine) are very disappointing to me. They do not make me yearn for an LE version, but rather, they turn me off altogether. If I was new to Harbour Lights, a larger GLOW might get me hooked on collecting the LEs once I learned more about the line, but a tiny GLOW would be passed by with no afterthought. Actually, a small LE has the same effect on me. Fisgard is beautiful, if you use a magnifying glass. It's chance of being noticed on the retail shelf or in my curio is slim to none though. Too bad. A GLOW of this one (heaven forbid) would need to penetrate into negative time-space to be smaller.

Getting an extra outbuilding is not reason enough for me to pursue an LE over a GLOW. Fortunately, "Limited Edition" has extra appeal to me and is distinction enough, imo.

My Christmas Wish List for future GLOW production:

Make 'em big 'n' pretty. Even better than the LE, especially if the LE was a dog. Include the whole dang neighborhood on the piece, if you want.

Don't number them.

Wait for several years after the LE retires before introducing the GLOW. I hate when a GLOW comes out and sits right next to the LE on the shelves. Preferably, wait 'till there's a significant runup in secondary price of the LE. That will indicate that the LEs are largely gone from the retail shelves.

Educate retailers on the difference. Maybe make little dealer display signboards that explain the two lines. Be sure the reps all know, too. They are the company's eyes and ears in the field, or should be.

After all this is done, sell a ton of them!

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-Art

How about making the Glows full size so we could buy a piece of property and move in to our favorite lighthouse! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Could a GLOW possibly be a collectable? My wife collects Boyd's Bears. All of them are billed as limited editions, however, when they make a certain number of one edition, they move on to the second edition, and so forth. Naturally, the 1st editions carry the most weight with collectors. Now back to HLs. Could a GLOW with an "A" edition possibly be considered a collectable, while later editions aren't? After all, it was limited, A's were only created the first year, which could possibly make them more of a limited edition then a true LE. I happen to think of this when I was in a store yesterday and saw a Thomas Point GLOW, with an A serial number. Any thoughts?

Anything can be a collectible. I collect sea shells and Native American pottery, for example. Neither collection involves limited editions in the usual sense, even though some of my shells are exceedingly rare and many of my pottery pieces are one-of-a-kind. I know people who collect stamps, coins, bird feathers or rocks. None of these are numbered.

Can GLOWs be collectibles? Yes. With or without an "A", or a number.

Are GLOWs limited editions? In a cheap kind of way, maybe. All things on this earth are limited in a sense by some factor or another. However, by Harbour Lights' own description, GLOWs are open editions. As in not limited. I think we need to make clear our operational definitions. It has been suggested in these Fora before that the term "Collectible" (capital "C") be used to distinguish a manufactured limited edition from anything else that might be collected.

Framed this way, Tim and others ask a valid question: Why confuse the issue with numbering GLOWs at all? What purpose does it serve?

The numbering doesn't really bother me personally, but I do agree that it probably causes unnecessary confusion in the marketplace and is apparently a source of great consternation among some Collectors (capital "C"), especially those who weight highly the prospects for their collection's monetary appreciation.

Caveat emptor. Buyers need to educate themselves about any product before buying. Those lighthouse enthusiasts who do not might end up buying a GLOW thinking it is an LE. Tisk tisk. But at the same time, I cannot think of any reasonable motive for perpetuating the numbering of GLOWs. Can someone please explain this to me?


------------------
-Art

Could you look at it this way.None of the GLOWs are alike.The factory induced,hand-written numbers make them different from one another.They are legit collectibles whether one likes them or not.If a family wanted to collect nothing but GLOWs then they should,and be just as proud of them as if they were the elitist LEs.Futhermore,I think the GLOWs are a Communist plot to empower the common working person(tic).

Terry

I agree.

As far as new collectors not knowing the difference between a GLOW and a LE, a good dealer will alway explain the collectible line. Each time I walk into a new collectible store and look at the HL line, the salesperson has always explained the Limited Edition and GLOW difference. I remember the first time I saw HL's in a store the sales person was very nice and explained the whole history of HL's. So, hopefully, a newbie to collecting will find a good teacher in a store.

But as far as the size goes, I would much rather see the effort be put into the size of the lighthouse instead of more buildings (I am probably a minority of one in this). I love my Fire Island and Bald Head because of their size and they are both fairly unelaborate pieces compared with today's releases. I hate to think that if made today, Fire Island would be two inches shorter in order to place trees and bushes around it. I'm happy with sand and water.

I think that the perfect size LE's tower pieces are Pensacola, White Shoal, Cape Florida and Currituck.

Joanne


[This message has been edited by Joanne (edited 09-23-2000).]