Oneida Lighthouse Collection?

While at a thrift shop yesterday, I saw a replica of Portland Head ME by Oneida (the dinnerware folks) and there was a reference to "The Oneida Collection".

I thought I knew all the makers past and present of lighthouse replicas, but this was a new one to me. It wasn't near the quality of Harbour Lights, better than Scaasi, maybe not as good as others. (Price was $6, I think; I didn't buy it.)

Anyone collect these? Have one or more? Have information about the line?

eBay has a few If you want to see examples.

Before you ask, I was dropping things off at the thrift store, not shopping :rolleyes:

Oneida, being a local company around here, has some local outlet stores and I have seen these lights there. It is a small collection, only 4 or 5 I think. Since the company has gone bankrupt, and sold it's assets, I am not sure that the lights are still made.

Like HL, it looks like they made some dinnerware too, but I think they are confused on location.

http://www.oneida.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.results&searchString=lighthouses&x=25&y=5

This the first I've heard of them. I have collected many different manufacturers of lighthouses (HL, Lefton, Scassis, Danbury, Lenox, etc), but have never come across these.

John, I agree with you they are no where near the quality of HL's but way better then Scassis.

Jim, they had closer to a dozen I believe. I have three of them, Portland Head Minots and Holland (Big Red). They were offered here in the Price Chopper grocery store, one of those deals where each week you could get a different lighthouse for a buck or two less. Then when all the weeks were over you could get all you wanted for that same price I think. It seems to me it was $12. I had just started collecting HL's so this may have been in '99? And I knew I couldn't afford to buy the LE's of the older lights. I picked out the three I did because I thought they looked the best. For the money they're pretty darn nice, imo. I've never seen them anywhere again.

Wow, I just had a flashback!!! It's been a long time since I've heard of that store!

The first Lighthouses I had were gifts from my mother, and they were Danbury Mint versions of Hatteras and Old Boston. The third was an Onedia of Ponce De Leon.

Then my girlfriend gave me a HL LE of Round Island, and the rest is just expensive history
Roger

I never saw an Oneida lighthouse replica. I've associated the Oneida name with silverware, if my memory serves me correctly. Wasn't silverware one of their top products back in the old days?

Bob

Yes, it was Bob.
I haven't seen any of their lights.
The only light I have, that isn't a Harbour Light, is a Danbury Mint. It is St Augustine and I got it because I couldn't afford the Harbour Lights original. The detail on is is really good. Almost as good as a Harbour Lights.

Speaking of Danbury Mint Lighthouses, I walked into a consignment store thwe other day and almost went crazy with passion. I say a table that was loaded with lighthouses on it and from a distance I thought they were Harbour Lights. Turned out they were Danbury Mints(45 of them) that were from an estate sale. I think they want $900 for all 45 or $30.00 a piece. They also had 3 puzzle pieces by Danbury that they want $200.00 for all 3. They are willing to take a little less and will ship if the whole collection is bought. Too bad they weren't Harbour Lights.

Danbury has some nice lighthouses. Harbour Lights are the best, but I do like some of the Danbury lighthouses.

I actually think the Danbury Barnegat Light is the best I've seen so far. It has the best scale, detail & color.

Yes for many years Oneida was a premier manufacturer of fine silver and stainless flatware some of which carried "community" in it's name. Sadly these days are over. Oneida only now sells products made elsewhere.

The story of the "Oneida Community" is quite interesting.

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/Oneida.html

You can go for a tour of the mansion if you like. I.O. and I did this a couple of years ago. It's quite an eerie place as was our tour guide, sort of a Lily Munster type woman. But then the story of the community is rather strange too! At the time of our visit we were told that there were still some decendents of the community involved with the company. But now I don't think anyone actually works there anymore??

http://www.oneidacommunity.org/

I have this collection. There are 8 pieces and are called the "Oneida Studios Lighthouse Point Collection." I just brought them out of my basement. I have the original boxes, packaging and each come with an information card. They came out in 2001 - I still have the original receipt. They sold for $9.99 each.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure." When you see a more expensive brand of lighthouse replicas selling for less than half their original value, it makes you wonder what a lesser brand would sell for.

My advice is if you like them, keep them. The secondary market is not doing very well. If you sold them you would be giving them away.

Bob

Ah, another New Yorker has joined us, welcome! And thanks for the info on these lights. I just looked for my boxes but didn't find them. May not have kept them.

Well I liked mine at the time and if I could see them I most likely still would.

They're in an open bookcase in my front entry porch. Some time ago I had to relocate another bookcase so parked it in front of the one with the lighthouses temporarily. That was about 2 years ago. If I ever unblock the first bookcase it will be fun to see what else is there!