Unknown Variations

Posted By: fscjr

Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 12:43 AM

I guess this is more of a musing than a rumor...I am convinced that there are more inter-edition differences than we currently recognize. When the Harbour Lights production switched from China to Malaysia, the masters were not always identical to the previous production-line. We have examples in Concord, Heceta etc. Now I hear Holland Glow has a significant change. Unfortunately, few of us have compared the models produced in both countries side-by-side to see the small (?) differences (besides the paint variations).
I'm just offering this as an observation. I guess I just miss the "old" days when we were barraged with all the mistakes, recalls, quality-assurance recalls, etc. Let me know your thoughts. Frank Carbone

Posted By: RezmanDale

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 01:13 AM

Frank,

Very interesting idea there. It would be fun to see how many differences there actually are. I suspect that the differences will be so minute that it wouldn't make much difference in value. But you never know what you may fiind. Do you have any idea what these differences might be? Do we know at what # the transitions occured? Anyone else ahve any input on this?
Dale

Posted By: Bob M

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 03:16 PM

Hi Frank, ...Great to see you posting! You are absolutely correct about the old days when minor flaws lead to variations that were hunted down by collectors across the country. The search for the "flawed treasures" is what made collecting HL's so interesting.

Maybe Harbour Lights should throw in a few "mistakes" with each new HL released to see if a connected collector can find it. A few paint variations wouldn't be too hard to create. The difficult part would be knowing your new HL is actually a variation. Unless you put two of the same HL together you probably wouldn't know you have a variation. Then if an unconnected collector purchases the piece and puts it in his or her curio, well, we will never know.

Bob

Posted By: rscroope

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 03:59 PM

They kind of did that with 'Cedar Key' and the 10 seahorses that nobody found! HL was very disappointed when it was revealed on a chat!

Posted By: JJ

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 04:05 PM

They (HL) couldn't have been too disappointed-It was Kim Andrews that revealed it. http://www.HarbourLights.com/chatlogs/jan_10_02.htm
Jim
Johnson

[This message has been edited by JimJohnson (edited 03-10-2002).]

Posted By: WackoPaul

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 06:49 PM

I think what Bob was saying Jim, is that they were disappointed that no collectors mentioned the ten seahorses first, before Kim mentioned it in the chat....

Round Island, MS is another of the combination Malaysian/China switch in manufactures, joining other Limited Editions in this distinction..

Toledo
Grand Traverse
Concord
Cape Meares
Scituate
Bald Head
Stonington

I think you are thinking of Cape Meares and not Heceta Head, OR, they were all made in Malaysia I believe, Frank.

[This message has been edited by engbrady (edited 03-10-2002).]

[This message has been edited by engbrady (edited 03-10-2002).]

Posted By: Webmaster

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 07:01 PM

You have to understand that the 'variations' are an embarassment to Harbour Lights. They generally mean a mistake was made somewhere along the line. They try hard to avoid mistakes.

Introducing an intentional 'variation' would not be ethical and such a ploy to increase interest in the line might just backfire.

There are still opportunities to find variations out there among pieces like Gray's Harbor, Beavertail, perhaps Mukilteo and others still on dealer shelves.

The secondary market provides other opportunities still at reasonable prices:

Point Arena is still available at a reasonable price. Round Island in brown or pink bricks is another. There are five different paint variations to Minot's Ledge.

Posted By: Larry

Re: Unknown Variations - 03/10/02 07:55 PM

It's old, but back in 1998, Rod Watson posted a "How many are there?" listing:
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum16/HTML/000002.html

It appears that he updated it in early January, 2002.

[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 03-10-2002).]