"OK Sherman, set the wayback machine to the year 1995, we're going to the pre-eWorld."
"Righto Mr. Peabody!"
Actually, the World Wide Web was in full swing in 1995, there just weren't as many people using it as there are now. On-line activities were starting to move off proprietary dial-up bulletin board systems (big ones like Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, lots of independents) and on to the Internet. There was a smattering of nascent sites set-up by forward thinking dealers and a few entreprenuers where HL models could be found. Much of the activity was taking place in newsgroups such as the group of 'alt.collecting' sites.
During that time there were some HL models advertised for sale but nowhere near what there is today - and *no* auction sites like e-Bay. There was also very little information about the models. This was the year I started collecting. To find stuff about HL on the Web, you used the search engines and rooted around the newsgroups. Daily.
The Secondary Market was composed mostly of independent dealers. Some of these were the same dealers who had shops and sold LEs (such as Rhodas Collectibes, Someone Special, Yankee Craftsman, etc..) A few independents like Mike Richards and Tom Wahlberg advertised regularly in the newsgroups. Matt Rothman was a major dealer, but he wasn't on the Internet (at least not to my knowledge.) They were selling, but they also did a lot of buying, accumulating pieces that, while appreciating, would carry their businesses for several years. (To this day, Tom W. seems to have an endless supply of St. Augustines.)
For me, the biggest thing was the lack of information on what was rare and what was common, and most importantly, what should one be paying for a piece on the Secondary. (Thats why I built my spreadsheet - to try to *deduce* value in order to figure out what to buy next.) For a while I had heavy reliance on my local dealer to tell me when they heard of a piece about to retire.
In 1996 (JC, correct me if I'm off) -a group started forming on AOL to talk about Harbour Lights models and hold regular chats. John and Warren D. got into the Secondary Market and John started the Harbour Lights Collectors Information Center web site where their pieces were advertised. John also started putting up information about the models, as he/we learned new stuff about them. For the first time here was a place where you could see pictures of the two versions of Assateague - Wow! At that time, pricing was open. By looking at the ads on the newsgroups, on the AOL board, and on John's site, one could finally start to gather data about what pieces were selling for. (This is probably heresy, not meant in a negative way, but I've always thought the HLCIC was the best - even compared to what we have today.) In '96(??) Jim Rutherford (hlsg@aol.com)published his first annual edition of the Harbour Lights Survival Guide - this held a wealth of good info, but one only learnt the Guide through word of mouth.
The HL collecting community that formed through AOL during 95-97 is part of the early (and core) contributors to these forums. I joined AOL just so I could participate in the Lighthouse Collecting forum. (Back then I was a Compuserve geek, and the AOLers made fun of me for using smileys in my posts - something that wasn't much done on AOL.) Folks like Rick Mau, Paulie, Sean, Mark, Fred Kuhl, Rod, JC, John at Bayside, Mike R., etc. helped me learn alot. Our chats on AOL were just as lively and entertaining as they are today. (Remember the Hen House thread?) There was a continous process of discovery and each week some new fact or tidbit would come to light - much of which is now standard lore. It was exciting! For me personally this will always be 'The Golden Age' of HL collecting.
During the 97-98 time frame (again, someone check my dates) the Secondary Market started growing up on the Web. As more folks joined the hobby, prices started really escalating. Mike Richards started his site - which for a while was another major Secondary source and almost started to compete with the HLCIC. There was a period when these dealers either individually or collectively did what I consider a bad thing. They stopped publishing their prices. You could e-mail for a price, but no longer were these sites an easy sources for tracking the market. One of the last sites to post prices (Joe's Lighthouse Page)became less active.
In '98(?), AOL made the stupid mistake of banning 'free' ads in their forums (so they could charge for them) and this really got the dander up of the HL group there. We talked about forming a regular Internet newsgroup. On his own, JC found the UBB software we're using today and installed it on his HLCIC site. This was in, uh, er, around May of 1998?? (help!) On August 30, 1998 Rod Watson posted msg. #1000
Msg1K and we were off and running. Gradually folks were weaned away from the AOL board - it still exists, and occasionally chats are still held there - but its never risen again to its heyday.
Harbour Lights recognized the quality of John's HLCIC and it was converted from a private to their Corporate site. The Forums remain to this day a seperate entity (not affiliated yadda yadda...).
Folks, I don't wanna go into one of those 'well when I was young we walked forty miles to school in deep snow' rants, but for you newbs - you got no idea how good things are today in terms of information on pieces and prices. The growth of HL collecting and information about it on the Web is something of a microcosm of the growth of the Web itself. There's a master's thesis somewhere in that tidbit if someone wants to grab it.
Well I've rambled on enuf for now. Hopefully this gives a teeny bit of insight to the world before what Bob referred to as HLWS. As for me, I'm still collectin', and still havin' fun! Thanks to all the friends I've made while enjoying this wonderful wacky hobby! Hopefully some of the old-timers will toss in their remembrances and add or correct this account.
Rgds from the History Channel,
__
/im
Sidebar: I was tickled to find Joe's Lighthouse Page is still on-line (now re-named). You should give it some hits, by taking a look:
members.aol.com/houselite/index.htm . Looks like the last update was with Navesink - its kinda like stepping back in time. Still shows pricing from the period when it was active - click on the 'About' link to see a little history. Kudos Joe Szarmach for still having your site!
[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 09-21-99).]