What do I have? It's an Alcatraz. On the bottom it says 407 signed by Bill Younger.
The flag # is A1009 made in 1996. The current listing shows #407 as Holland, MI and #417 for Alcatraz, CA which was introduced 5/98. The box agrees with the piece. Again, I ask, WHAT DO I HAVE?

It's simple guys-Alcatraz was released as a GLOW but when HL responded to the feeling by collectors that no light should be a GLOW before an LE was issued, it along with several other lighthouses, was changed to an LE. The LE was retired and then a new GLOW was issued as 417 in May 1998. You have a limited edition which started life as a GLOW. For any question about HL you might have, use the search function for a word such as Alcatraz, and the software will find the information for you.
Jim
Johnson

Since this question comes up a lot I thought I would repost my repost of a John post, assisted by Tim on the graph.

In December 1995, a series of Great Lakes lighthouses were introduced as a 'Stamp Set', matching the five lighthouses featured on a set of US postage stamps. Two of these five had already been done as limited editions (Marblehead OH and Split Rock MN) - but these were about to retire.

Harbour Lights decided to make all five of the 'Stamp Series' lighthouses open editions. 

The 1996 introductions then in production would include both open and limited editions -- and some of the open editions were lighthouses that had not been previously issued as limited editions.

Collectors began to complain - "Harbour Lights should not issue any lighthouse as an 'open edition' that had not previously been issued as a retired edition and retired."

The compaints grew and Harbour Lights listened. They anounced that the collectors' demands would become the rule. GLOW open edition lighthouses would only include those items that had been limited editions and retired.

That decision would be retroactive. It would cover the three Stamp Series lighthouses issued in 1995 and the 4 1996 GLOW lighthouses that had already been released, plus 2 that were already in production but not yet shipped (Peggy's Cove and Fire Island - which do NOT have edition sizes on their flags but were never issued with a "4XX" product number.)

The old collectors were happy - but new collectors were confused. They were confused because they were seeing lighthouses without edition sizes on the flags and some with serial numbers that began with letters, and eventually what looked like the same lighthouse with different product numbers.

And they would eventually be confused because Harbour Lights chose to re-use the 400 series product numbers that were originally assigned to the GLOW-turned-limited edition lighthouses.

So 410 (Spectacle Reef) became Cape Neddick GLOW
411 (St. Joseph) became St. Augustine GLOW
405 (Cape Lookout) became Ponce de Leon GLOW
406 (Fire Island) became New London Ledge GLOW
407 (Alcatraz) became Holland GLOW
417 (Mukilteo) became Alcatraz GLOW

ED


Ed&Lois,
If you call customer service at Har.L.they will send you a #177sticker & a limited edition certificate for your Alcatraz,then you can have both stickers on the bottom.

This is one of the first Harbour Light Oracles for a new collector to master.(Paul has explained this perfectly.)
Once you have learned this, then you can be confused by LE and GLOWS. Similar size, prices, and usually different detailing. Try looking at the Alcatraz LE and GLOW. Alcatraz LE(#HL177 & HL407) is also a GLOW(#HL417). This was especially confusing a year ago when you could still get the retired LE, and the GLOW was just released. I had a knowlegeable dealer who thought the GLOW was an LE. When I could actually tell the difference, I felt I had arrived aa a collector instead of a buyer. All GLOWs are in the 400 series except the 7 in Paul's chart.
When you've got this under your belt you're well on your way to being a WACHO.

I am confused by the chart on the GLOW's converted to LE's. I have a Spectacle Reef marked A6517 but the numbers on the chart don't go that high.

The numbers in the table above were based on collectors who answered survey questions about the highest A, the lowest non-A etc. If you have a higher or lower number that would set new limits, then post it in "By The Numbers" and we'll adjust the table periodically.

For full details on the lighthouses that were changed from open to limited:

www.HarbourLights.com/modifications/pages/open2limited.htm

John