Great Lakes Stamp Set

I have acquired the Great Lakes Stamp Set including the stamps. I was just curious as to the approximate value-I do not plan to part with it. The reason that I wonder is-on the bottom of St. Joseph's is a price sticker for $275. Can any of you help me out?

I believe that was the suggested retail for the set of 5 lighthouses when introduced.

So they weren't sold individually at the start, but as a set?

A St. Joseph on ebay could go for around $10 to $15 on Ebay. What is it's number?

An other reason that it may have a large price tag was that it was put on by a dealer when ever Harbour lights hot. I remember seeing many dealers sticking on $150 to $250 on Harbour Lights that where retired. I saw one dealer had a $250 sticker on a GLOW split Rock calling it retired.
I added up the individual lighthoues and came up with $292 for a complete set. Unless a group discount was given that would put it closer to the $275

The flag number is A3304.

Nothing special about the number.
Sorry it is not worth $275

You could buy them individually or as a set at the beginning. Some of the later answers to your post are assuming that the Split Rock was $275 ALONE - as I said, that was for the set of 5 pieces.

Thank you for your help John and Daniel. I didn't think there was anything special about the number...but like I said it was curious about the price sticker. I thought that maybe some one had tried to make a huge profit off the one piece at one point in time. I didn't realize they could be purchased as a set, so maybe the original owner had purchased them as such and then split them up.

Couldn't find it in the archives, but wasn't that the set that had the A/B numbering issue in the first year, so that some first year sets were B and some second year sets were A?

That's correct JJ. As I recall it, the first 400 sets were lettered "B" and released in 1995. The issued those as "A" the second year.

But unless you have some sort of documented sales receipt with the edition number on it, what is unique about it? A simple numbering/lettering error that shouldn't have improved the value of the set IMO.

Why were the first year issues lettered B and the second year A? I would think it would be in reverse. I'm also assuming the stamps are more valuable if they are postmarked first day of issue as opposed to not postmarked?

That was supposed to be an 'error' from the factory which understood (incorrectly) that "A" meant 1994 (the first year for a GLOW - CH401 Cape Hatteras) and therefore 1995 would be "B" the year the stamp set came out.

The "A" means the first year of production for a given part whether that's 1996, 2004, etc. The next year of production will advance by a letter and the number starts over again at "1"

I think many of us wish that GLOWS had just been unumbered from the beginning. There's a story there that will be included in the Collectors Guide as to why they decided to number them.

Good point, JC! I know I'm really looking forward to the release of the much anticipated Collector's Guide. Our old "Greenbook Guide to Harbour Lights" was a great reference book but sadly it is now so outdated. It will be so refreshing to have an updated similar style book to bring us all up-to-date on HL collecting. Bring it on!

Bob

Wow
An ancient History question.
More to what John said

The first open edition was Cape Hatteras and was produced in China.
The manufacturer was told by Harbour Lights that each year was going to have the next letter of the alphabet. So for the Hatteras, the prefix for the 1995 issue was going to be the letter “B”.
Therefore, when the Stamp Series came out in 95 the manufacturer added the “ B” prefix to the first 331 thinking that “B” stood for the year not for the production year. When the mistake was found, the letter for the rest of the year was changed to “A”
Then 1996 came and the manufacturer decided to start the first 331 with the letter “A” to fill the void that was created by their lettering mistake the year before. The plan was to then switch to the“B”prefix after the 331 but then an other issue came about. The collectors demanded that Harbour Lights Didn’t create an open edition until the L.E. was made first. The “B” prefix was then taken off for the Spectacle Reef, St. Joseph and Thirty Mile Point and left with no prefix.

I believe John is right. The amount of the “B” prefixes is around 400

Bob, you can't really compare the new guide to the old "green book". I saw a rough version of the new book while at the Tidewater event, and it's much nicer. It's much thicker with information and Paul's pictures of the lights as well as being updated and also includes all the information from John's website.

I think this book will become a collectors item of it's own.

Do you know when the book will be out and how we will be able to purchase one? This is a long awaited resource.
Judy

I too saw the book and it is very nice.

OK, the rumors are revealed up in the RUMOR MILL

CLICK HERE