Which was your first?

I guess I can say without a doubt that I have been collecting longer than most. I started collecting in
the early part of 91, first one bought was Sandy Hook NJ for $60. In the next 2 years I was buying 5 and 6 a year at the retail prices, which included St. Augustine $70, Ponce $60, Key West $60, Hilton Head $60
and so on. Now I only collect the ones that have that special appeal, or the ones that are worth big bucks.

Caio
Brian

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My first was Cana Island. We were on vacation in 1992 at Mackinaw City, MI and happened upon a HL display at one of the many gift shops. I told my mother "Now that would make a nice Christmas gift!". I wasn't really into lighthouses then but just liked the way they looked. I narrowed my choices to 2, CAPE HATTERAS and CANA ISLAND, then decided on Cana Island because I liked the design of the tower. Imagine that people. I had a mold #1 CH in my hand and put it back, TWICE (but that's another story)! Time passed before I acquired any more HL's, then at the same store 2 years later someone threw open the gates and the hog went wild!


Digger

My husband and I were on vacation in San Francisco in Sept. 96. We wandered into a gift shop and there was the LE Alcatraz. I had to have that one since we had just seen it. The store owner also had a first year collector society kit (with Point Fermin) that she had ordered for a customer that was never picked up. I had to add that to my shopping cart for the $80. The store had Big Bay Point...had to have that too. My husband grew up in NY and saw Montauk on the shelf...one more for the cart. We must have spent hours deciding which ones to buy. By the time we left SF, we had purchased 12 HL and had been back to the store 3 times in 2 days. The search was on by the time I got home. I now have all LE except CH1 and Coquille.

Concord, Still one of my favorites, Call me weird but I love the looks of that little thing. Bought it for Teresa's birthday

My first HL was Bodie Island. My Grandmother got a catalog from "Lighthouse Depot." She knew I liked lighthouses and when she saw Bodie Island, she called my mother and asked if that was the lighthouse we used to live near. My Mother bought it for me for Christmas. My Grandmother went and got Bald Head and Morris Island "then and now" for me also. She thought I would like the Morris Island because it looked like Bodie. If she had only known what she was starting, now its about 70 HL later and going strong.

While on a summer vacation in Michigan, I bought the stamp set and Round Island and Tawas Point from the Monadock shop in Mackinaw City. I had those shipped home so when we arrived back a few weeks later, they were waiting for me.

I sent my dad a picture of Old Mackinac and he sent me the HL.

__
/im (good thing he didn't send me a bridge)

I don't remember for sure which was the first HL. I think it was Barnegat, followed shortly by Sandy Hook and West Quoddy. The first lighthouse was the CSC Cape May. We had just finished a birdwatching trip to Cape May State Park and had climbed the tower. We were walking around in Cape May before dinner and saw a display of CSC pieces. Linda gave it to me for my birthday.

Months later, after not being able to find CSC readily and having see HL a few times, we got Barnegat. Again after a bird watching trip, this time to Barnegat Inlet to see Harlequin ducks.

Regular readers will know that we combine the lighthouses and the bird watching as much as possible. The two interests match up pretty well.

Rick

I.O. gave me Selkirk last year for Christmas probably because it's the closest HL LH to home. Now if it would only retire!

Mombo

We always enjoyed visiting lighthouses, but the first HL was 9/16/98. Our 19th anniversary. Wayne ended up in the local Hallmark wandering about trying to find something. Saw the HL display, bought Yaquina Bay because we had visited it on our Oregon trip in '96 with our boys.
Although we visited other lights in Oregon and now have the HLs that first will always remain special.
Now just a little over a year later we have 52 and need a second curio cabinet.

Donna

My first piece was Old Point Loma a gift from my wife in Feb, of 94. She had no idea the fire she started, now with 150+ lights I have a very nice collection to admire.

cyberkeeper

[This message has been edited by cyberkeeper (edited 10-08-99).]

My husband and I began collecting in November of 1991; our first piece was Admiralty Head WA since we live close by; we also bought Burrows Island that day simply because it was a Washington lighthouse and marked as OR; to date we have all the pieces in the collection and have been able to purchase each one at retail [including the original CH and Coquille River;]90% of them have been purchased from the same dealer -- Collectors Showcase in Edmonds.

My first lighthouses were Currituck & Bald Head. They were gifts for father's day. Boy, father's day has come very frequently since then.

Warren

My first was Fenwick DE. We were vacationing there and I passed it on the way to a collectable store to look at the Jon Perry pieces they had in stock. The Fenwick was sitting right out in front, just calling to me. It was an exact copy. So I spent some time talking to the clerk about them and I think there were Spoontiques or something next to the HL's. The lady suggested that if I was going to get seriously into it, I should go with the Harbour Lights, even though they were more expensive. After I got home, I called up the store and ordered the entire MD series. Yikes! My feet haven't touched the ground since!

[This message has been edited by youngone (edited 10-09-99).]

In August of 1998 we visited Cape May Lighthouse. We spent the day shopping in Cape May and I am sure that we had to have seen Harbourlights in one of those shops! At the end of the day, I had purchased a $3 very bad copy of West Quoddy Head that had a tea light candle in it. I also purchased a wooden boat that said Cape May on it. I brought them home and put them on my cocktail table in my living room. I really liked seeing the nautical things there- it reminded me of a great vacation (I am a landlubber from the midwest and we had been all up and down the Jersey shore!). There is a wonderful store near our home called Nagle's- started as a store where you could buy just about everything, but has evolved into a great store that specializes in collectibles. I happened to pass the Harbour Lights display and there it was- Cape May- just waiting for a place in my living room. It took 3 more trips to Nagle's before I finally bought it. That was in April 1999. Now I have 12 pieces and can hardly wait to buy more! I like to purchase lights that I have visited (as do many folks), but will collect others too! I still have the $3 candle LH- it reminds me how this all got started and makes me appreciate the artistry of the HL! I know I must be approaching wackodom- my family doesn't even ask what to buy me anymore!

[This message has been edited by chris g (edited 10-13-99).]

Great Forum Sean!
I am somewhat new at collecting HL's. I was collecting Lefton's, when I began looking at HL's. I purchased my first on in August, It was Big Sable Point! Mostly just liked the piece, and this was before I had done much looking and reading. My second two pieces were two Boston Harbors that I bought at retail. One (with rod) was for me, second one(without rod) was to sell. (Haven't been able to bring myself to sell it yet)

Rusty

I think it was May of 95 that my mom bought me Minot's Ledge as a birthday present. For awhile I only aquired HLs as gifts. That is, until the Thomas Point affair. That is when I realized that some pieces might come along that would get retired before I could receive them as a gift. That coupled with the discovery of the forum on AOL really fueled the fire. I think that the forums and discussion between collectors leads me to buy more HLs that I would ever buy than if I was still just an "island" of a collector.

I have 51 pieces now and wish I could have every piece!

Tim

My first HL was Portland Head GLOW. We had moved to Ohio after living in Maine (about 4 miles north of Portland Head). I saw the HL and had to have it -- didn't have a clue about LE's and GLOW's or even HL's. I think that was about four years ago; let's just say my shelf space and savings have decreased considerably since then!

Donna

My first was Ponce GLOW on 11/1/97. My wife had just returned from a Florida vacation and she had climbed the real thing. I too was unaware of the LE-GLOW difference until I found John's old site and caught the bug. Now, 128 lighthouses and 1 reunion later, here I am. My name is Jim and I am a Harbour Lights addict...
Jim
Johnson

My first purchase was Portland Head, LE in June 1992. My second and third were Coquille River, OR and Burrows Island, OR (WA) because I had recently been vacationing in both states. Little did I know that my obsession with visiting lighthouses would lead to an obsession with owning replica's of them.

Day after Christmas 1992. Saw Portland Head at the local gift shop and just had to have it. I just liked it's looks. Bought Hatteras (Mold II) one year later and then caught the bug and haven't looked back since. Main reason was my Coast Guard career gave me an opportunity to see and fall in love with a lot of lighthouses.

Rich

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My first was Block Island Southeast, shortly after it shipped to Lighthouse Depot. Couldn't believe I'd spent so much for one lighthouse! My definitely better half Kim agreed. Now here we are, 120 or so later.

I bought my first Harbour Light back in late 1996. It was Jupiter, FL and a gift for my then Fiance, now my wife. I bought that particular one because I loved lighthouses, but was not a collector. The red color just drew me in. Little did either of us know that 3 years later, we would be the proud owners of over 150 Harbour Lights pieces!

My first secondary purchase was Holland, Tybee, and Alcatraz. Thanks John Chidester and Warren Diamond for hooking me even deeper into Harbour Lights!

-Todd

(because I can't type to save my life...)

[This message has been edited by Todd Shorkey (edited 10-09-99).]

My first purchase was in July of 1994. I was living in Fl. and saw Old Mackinac Point(HL118) in a card/gift store. I had to buy it as it seemed like a nice link to my home state of Mi. It took me a few years before I really started my collection, but now I buy on a regular basis.

Jim

The first lighthouse for us was Charlotte Genesee. Patty was into Dept. 56 and I was always tagging along and started checking out these little harmless lighthouse goodies sitting on the shelves. Since Charlotte is our home light, I thought way not it's only one little light. Two bankruptcies later, the quest goes on - no home, but lots of lights!

My first was the Split Rock GLOW.
Although I have never been there, it has always been my favorite lighthouse. I look forward to the day when I am able to get there in person and see if I can take a photo as good as the ones I've seen.
I run an intercollegiate bowling tournament in St. Louis over Thanksgiving weekend. In November 1997, the tournament staff gave my the Split Rock HL as a gift in honor of our 20th annual tournament.
By the end of 1998, I had approx. 50 HLs.
Most of my HLs are LEs, and I did see the Split Rock LE in a store in Indiana once, but I've skipped it since I like the inclusion of part of the cliff in the sculpture (similar to Cape Disappointment), which to me is wat makes the Split Rock lighthouse so dramatic. There are other lighthouses I would like more if one ignores the setting.
Actually, I now have 2 Split Rock GLOWs. (The only one of which I have 2.) I bought the second as part of the 1995 Commemorative Stamp Set, which was high on my want list since I also collect stamps.

FrankB

[This message has been edited by FrankB (edited 10-09-99).]

My first HL was Scituate. My wife, son and I had stayed at the Clipper Ship Hotel overlooking Scituate Harbor on several vacations, and had spent some good times climbing around on the rock jetties below the Light. I'd seen HL's before and had thought about buying them. When Scituate came out, it was a natural first choice. Subsequent purchases were others we'd visited . . . Grand Traverse, Cape May, Sea Girt (I think I visited Sea Girt as an excuse to join the Society and acquire the HL). Finally broke down and bought Port Sanilac on the secondary market just because I liked it (and got a good deal from Warren Diamond), although we haven't visited it. So the hounds have been released; we're off and running!

Bruce

We had a vacation scheduled in December of 1996. The trip from Indy consisted of stops for the candle-light tour at the Biltmore Mansion, Christmas at Williamsburg and Virginia Beach with a drive down the Christmas decorated boardwalk that night,

On December 9th we visited the Outer Banks and the first lighthouse on the trip, Currituck. I planned to stop at Lighthouse Gallery and Gifts, Bruce and Cheryl’s store, to compare the lighthouses of different manufacturers. I had found their website when planning the trip. For a while I had been thinking about collecting a few lighthouses and their store provided me with the opportunity to compare different brands. I went from one table to another, then back to the shelves with Harbour Lights, then over to Brand X’s lighthouse and then back again to the Harbour Lights. I compared them all but kept coming back to the HL display. It was obvious from the start, I would start a collection of a few Harbour Lights lighthouses. Winner hands down!

Now the big decision, which HL lighthouse was going to be the first one I would buy. That was easy, we had just come from visiting the Currituck lighthouse that morning. I didn’t know at the time when I was paying for the Currituck and a Society membership, my wife Sue was purchasing 2 HL for my birthday and another one for me for Christmas. I tell everybody it is her fault, that exactly one year later to the day that I had bought the Currituck, Bill Younger was signing his latest HL release, Jeffrey’s Hook (December 9th, 1997),. That gave me a complete set of all of the HL lighthouses except for CH1 (I did and do have CH2) plus several variations and they were all signed by Bill.

When we went back to Currituck this summer it brought it all back to me.
1. Currituck
2. Bodie Island (Birthday)
3. Cape Lookout (Birthday)
4. Hatteras OE (Christmas)
5. Thomas Point (Christmas from me)
6. Ocracoke (first secondary piece, $80 Jan. 1997)

Outer Banks set was complete, onward to other regions.

During an April 1997 Lighthousing trip I shot pictures of 28 lighthouses in ten days and purchased 42 HL lighthouses.

Hence the name,

SaintWackoPaul '
Keep the Flame

Typical story - had looked at HL over the years, admiring the quality. Had always liked lighthouses. Just never seemed to buy one. One of the Hallmark dealers we visited while collecting Hallmark ornaments also sold HL. One day each December they put a coupon in the paper for 25% off. Finally convinced my wife that the Stamp set would make a great Christmas gift- after all, you got not one, but five lights and we had the 25% off coupon.

Next purchase, about a month later, was the first Collector's Society membership kit, for 25% off because they remembered us buying the Stamp Set! Been kind of a downhill slide into major poverty since then. Have been able to clean the dealer out of older retired pieces they still had over the past 20 months. Gotta win the lottery or something here real soon!

Dave

p.s. anyone looking for a good deal on Hallmark ornaments? Gotta free up some cash for HL!

[This message has been edited by Dave H (edited 10-10-99).]

When I was visiting Nags Head, we drove up to Currituck to see the Lighthouse. I proceeded to climb the Light and my wife went to the gift shop. When I finally could pull myself away from the tower views, I joined Mary Ann in the gift shop. She was among lighthouse sculptures from 5 different manufacturers. She wanted to buy me Bald Head Island since we had been there the year before and she just loved it. So now I'm looking at all these lighthouses - totally confused! I ask the gift shop person for some info, and she tells me "It's a Big story on each brand . Pick one and I'll try to help you." So back I go, and put the 5 Bald Heads next to one another, Compare size, quality, price - and of course, I pick the most expensive, best detail, largest, and best quality.
So now I tell my wife, if I get this one, I'll probably start collecting them (Little Did We Know?), so let me find out if they make Montauk.(We camp at Hither Hills for the past 19 years ever summer and have taken quite a few pictures of the kids in front of the Lighthouse.)
So, the gift shop person says yes, but it's retired then explains to me what that means, gives me a brochure and directs me to a shop in Nags Head that deals on the secondary market.
Two days later after studying my HL brochure, I find the shop and the dealer goes on the internet, and tells me he can get me a Montauk for $250. To rich for my blood, so I delay my collecting.(I was gulping at the 60 - 70 dollar range, now my favorite was 4x that much!)
About two weeks later, I'm surfing the internet and find this site(prior Site -August 98), and see a Montauk on the Marketplace for a much more reasonable price. After justifying it to my self for several days, I made the purchase, and don't regret it. I was hooked!

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Long Island BOB





[This message has been edited by rscroope (edited 10-10-99).]

My first was Fire Island in 10/97. We had been on our annual trek down the Oregon Coast - had always visited the lighthouses and somehow, for the first time, noticed lighthouse replicas. Looked in all the shops, but didn't make any purchases until we were almost home - by that time had definitely decided HL was the best. So bought Fire Island, because my family had always had a summer home there. Of course, got confused right away about the GLOW issue. Rapidly went from there to a current(and growing) collection of 14 GLOWS, 13 collector society, 60 LEs, 2 miniature sets, 16 ornaments & 6 thumbnail. Have at least a GLOW of all the lighthouses I have visited that HL makes. I love them!

Dixie

My first one was Thomas Point Shoal, MD. My wife and I were intrigued by an article we had seen about the Rosemont show a few years ago. We decided to go see what Dept56 was on display. Then we walked around and saw the HL booth. I saw the Thomas Point which was being displayed, said to the wife that I knew that lighthouse as I had grown up in MD near the Chesapeake Bay. She bought one for me as a Christmas gift, I got the bug, and it was off to the races.

foghornkeeper

My first HL was Thomas Point (GLOW).

The store where I bought it from had a very limited selection and I thought it was the most detailed plus being a screwpile the most unique.

After that I received a Lighthouse Depot catalog in the mail. Seeing just how many HLs I could add to the collection, I knew I'd be in "trouble".

February 14th, 1999, Valentine's Day, my wife bought for me Montauk Point. I am originally from Long Island, so she knew this was going to be a great piece. Oh the HL monster she has created. I just tell her it's your fault, you bought the first piece.



The Flame

Our first purchase was Sannibel Island. We were spending a weekend at Florida's Marco Island and took a few minutes on Saturday to visit Sannibel Island and the lighthouse. Later that day we were in a gift shop on Marco discussing the lighthouse with the owner. She mentioned that Harbour Lights was a company producing models of lighthouses and asked if we would be interested in seeing the pieces she had on display. And, by an interesting coincidence, Harbour Lights had just come out with the Sannibel Island piece. She brought the box out from the back and it was still in its pristine, unopened state. It was like Christmas unpacking the sculpture. By the time we left the store we were hooked. We spent the rest of the trip looking for dealers between Ft. Meyers and the Keys. After all, if you're going to ship one back to Missouri you might as well ship ten (which we did).

I always enjoy reading these personal histories. Here's mine along with many others:

http://216.46.163.97/forums/Forum3/HTML/000023.html

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-Art

Mine was February 1999 I took my wife to San Francisco for Valentines Day. We visited Several light houses and toured Alcatraz. We stopped in at Scan Trends in Gerridalli Square and saw the Alcatraz LE. I fell in love with it and bought it. Since then I have bought 18 others. I had several scassi's, spoontiques and Cheryl Spencer Collin pieces but nothing compared to the accurate detail and quality of HL.


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The first HL that I purchased was Fire Island, NY. I grew up in that area and visited the lighthouse on many occaisions.

My first HL was Barnegat. It is my favorite HL & LH. Barnegat Light has special meaning to me. My father and I spent a lot of time there together. I always think of him when I am there, and my HL reminds me of him and those times.
George

My first, Hatteras GLOW, was my freefall into HL collecting. Next two, Pt. Loma and Alcatraz, LE. I began collecting while on vacation in Tennessee. Then on a lighthouse trip to VA and NC I began buying and 100+ is my collecting history.

Derith

I've loved reading how you all got started!

My first HL was Pemaquid Point. We had spent a great day there on a trip to Maine, and we saw the replica in a little shop in Pittsburgh. It was really expensive, we thought (harbinger of things to come!) but decided to splurge because it was a wonderful reminder of the trip and we thought it was beautiful. At the time we had never heard of Harbour Lights and knew nothing about collectibles. We soon discovered the AOL Lighthouse Collectible site and after that it was the same tale as all the rest of you!

What a great company Harbour Lights is, and what a great group of people who collect them!

Barb

Our first lighthouse was Cape Neddick (GLOW).
We were on a trip in Maine whale watching and saw Egg Rock and decided while in Maine
we'd better check out lighthouses. It was
love at first sight! Stopped at Lighthouse
Depot and a very devoted salesman spent
about an hour with us and showed us the HL collection. That did it! Bill was going
to be there the next day for a signing - we purchased four lighthouses, had them signed and shipped to us and now (one year later)
have 60 lighthouses. (It's pretty crazy that when we vacation we map our Harbour Lights dealers!) Only a Newbie but a "wacky" collector!

Closed because the thread reached 50 posts. Click here to continue with part two:

Which was your first? Part Two