The St Augustine Gold Event Piece

This is probably a no-brainer but the gold event for St Augustine this year will be the St Augustine renovation piece. There will three of them given away at St Augustine regional only.

Well I guess I won't have to worry about adding one of those to my collection.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Bob,

Unfortunately I won't have to worry about it either. Since retiring, it has become more financially important for me to attend the 2005 Reunion than the St. Augustine Regional.

bobo

I'd just like to add ONE to my collection. Eventually even a blind hog will root an acorn and maybe this is my time to root that acorn.

I wish you the best, Rich! Do you have any gold pieces at all yet? Lorna won one at the CT Regional in 2001. We were both very thrilled to have that honor bestowed upon us.

Bob

Not a one Bob. I would just like to win one time.

Rich, you could be like Jim Johnson and I a few years back. At the Regional event at Anaheim CA we were at a table where two of the people were presented with a gold piece and two more won one! That's our normal luck. (Well, I am trying to change that - I did actually win something at the Alpena event.)

Winning a gold piece is a definite morale booster to a collector. As a matter of fact, winning anything at one of these events boosts your smile factor.

Bob

Who knows, this could be my lucky year. I could be building up to the big one because last year at Edgewater Treasures in Jacksonville I did win a LE during the store drawings. Daniel had to go and win the Gold Piece. I was happy that a Forum Member won it rather then a walk in off the street.

My luck was definitely good last year when it came to Harbour lights. I won the Sand Key #2 at the St Augustine open house and the gold event Sister at Edgewater. But it took years until it happened. Yes I have won t-shirts ,caps and a few L.E.’s thru the years but it wasn’t till last year that I hit the big ones. Rich this year will be yours.

I couldn't agree with you more on that point, Rich. It is really nice to see a member of our extended family, here at the CF, win. When a "walk-in" wins a valuable gold piece, it always makes me wonder what will happen to that small treasure. Does the winner realize what they actually won? Do they know the actual value of the piece? Will the piece be displayed in a place of honor? Will the piece be left on a dark shelf in a cellar never to be seen again? Will the piece eventually be up for sale at a flea market, yard sale, or garage sale?

Oh boy!

Bob

Does anyone have a dollar value to place on these pieces? I won a gold Sisters last year, which was a definite first for me.

It has great value to me and a place of honor in my collection.

But I AM curious as to the $$ value.

Judy

Bob (& Rich),

I'm going to say something and it is not meant as a criticism- just an observation that has been mentioned before.

There are serious collectors of Harbour lights that are not Connected Collectors and are what you might term people off the street.

They would have an idea of what they have either from reading the Legacy or through membership in a collectors Club. I know this is not quite the type you have in mind when you make your statements thinking about their lack of knowledge of what they have.

I also think that some of the others make the effort to determine what they have- either right then and there or by coming to our Forum to get information. There have been several cases that I can recall where someone won something at a signing and then because someone there mentioned us they came here to investigate.

I also recall instances where some people have mentioned that they took a long time to participate because they felt many here were part of an insular ring of collectors. I know this is not the case but sometimes we can come off that way- myself included.

I think this type of comment when read by some of those new to the Forums that makes them feel that we are a multi-leveled hierarchy here.

I know that for the most part that is not true- but there is just enough truth in the sentiment to be one of the reasons many newbies don't jump in right away and why some never do.

I know that none of us intentionally do this, but it happens all the same. I'm not sure what the answer to the situation is .

Just making an observtion that popped into my head while reading this thread.


Dennis

I know exactly what you are talking about, Dennis. It is my firm belief that there is a rather large group of HL collectors out there that have never visited the CF. Many of them probably don't even own a computer. As a matter of fact, they probably outnumber the connected collectors.

These people don't fall under the category I was refering to in my post above, for the most part. I was refering to people who stop in at a signing just to see what the commotion is, buy a piece because they think it's cute, and end up winning the gold in the drawing. Bingo, that gold piece is gone and soon forgotten.

Bob

Bob,

Yes I understood you- I was trying to cover a couple of different scenarios in my response and didn't make myself clear enough.

You're right - there are a number of people like that out there, but I think a number of them are some of the new members who lurk instead of contribute also.

Dennis

I in no way meant an avid, moderate or new collector or even someone that is remotely interested in lighthouses. I meant the person that knows nothing about lighthouses, stops in the store and makes a purchase, and enters the drawing. They stay and win and don't know what they have won or the value of it. I have seen this happen a couple of times.

Back in the good old days of Rosemont, HL put on one of the better "seminars". They had soda and water and snacks for everyone. They gave away lots of prizes. Most importantly, they didn't restrict attendance to just their collectors.

The worst example of a "walk in" occured when a group of folks just popped on in about half way or more thru the seminar. Bill had already started for prizes and these folks complained they didn't have tickets. He had us take them back tickets and as I recall, even drew one prize just for them. After all was done, one came up and wanted to see the tickets because they said theirs wasn't included. Talk about selfish and self serving freeloaders. Fortunately these kind of folks were the exception, but what if they had won one of the valuable pieces? It would have been on EBay within the hour.

Lots of great collectors who don't do the internet, and even those that do that have no idea about the Forums. But, there are folks who litterly do walk in, buy one Little Light and win a valuable piece, or even a gold piece. (Yes, you are supposed to buy an LE to be in the drawing but this is seldom actually adhered to by the dealers.)

In general what we all mean, is that we are thankful to see a lighthouse lover and/or Lighthouse collector win the valuable lighthouses, that will cherish it like we would, and not some one that will either stash it away in a closet or sell it on ebay.

And we are tickled pink when we see one of our forum members win.