The End of a Golden Age?

From the secondary market side of LighthouseKeepers.com, circa 1999, toward the end of its heyday... Will we see the likes again?




[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 02-17-2002).]

Hopefully we will but not anytime too soon. The new collectors today have to start at the bottom of a mountain to reach these LE pieces and it is easier to go around the mountain and reach the GLOWS. Eventually these prices on these pieces may get back up there as some of the new collectors finally realize the only true way to have a collection of HL is to start picking up these retired beauties "one step at a time".

Rich

[This message has been edited by flacoastie (edited 02-17-2002).]

Wow! Did pieces actually sell that high!?! I don't remember most of them going for those prices! That is quite a difference from today!

Since this was a price list from Lighthouse Keepers -- a secondary market seller with which I was involved prior to my becoming webmaster@harbourlights.com, I can attest that pieces did sell for these prices.

(Tim I think this was from early 1998 - I was out of the secondary market business after opening the Harbour Lights site in August 1998.)

And many collectors traded and received these values when they were looking for something else for their collection too.

I don't think we'll get back up to this level. These were the pre-ebay days when anyone with a Harbour Lights lighthouse could be a seller.

Please don't think of secondary market sellers in these 'old days' as gougers. The only sources they had for pieces to sell were collectors who answered print ads or found out about the broker/sellers through some third person.

The number of true secondary market dealer/brokers for Harbour Lights has dwindled way down.

Who can report that they bought a secondary market piece from a secondary market seller (not another collector through the marketplace or on ebay) in the past six months? And who was the seller?

Help me out with a list of secondary market dealers who were active in 1998:


[*]Lighthouse Keepers - Warren Diamond and I

[*]Lighthouse Trading Co. - Matt Rothman

[*]Mike Richards

[*]Dee Brandt
??

[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 02-17-2002).]

Stretching my already stretched memory here, JC... all of these are sketchy and may not be right


[*] Tom Wahlberg

[*] Rhodas Collectibles at www.rhodas.com

[*] The Yankee Craftsman

[*] a fellow who's first name is George out of Oklahoma was v. active for a while (last name totally escapes me)

[*] www.someonespecial.com

[*] www.seabeacons.com

The secondary market got its real start with a handful of dealers. Internet presence started with newsgroup type postings.

I had a date of 9/26/99 on the LHK site - but that's not necessarily the date of the page shown above. It was done w/ frames and the navigation frame had 'the '99 date, but the price list was not dated.

At least it's evidence of a era when HL were not (as) commoditized as today. So when you hear the old timers moan about prices from the past you'll know there is truth to it. The market was white hot with price moves almost daily.

I'll suggest things peaked around 4 months on either side of the 1997 1st Reunion. NPL during the Christmas season of '97 was hitting $750. I made a 4 for 2 trade against NPL futures in July of '97 - the model had never been seen at that time. (gave: NPL+OPL, got: Barnegat+Ocracoke+Key West+Neddick) The LHK suite at the first reunion was alive with wheeling and dealing. One afternoon while there, JC, Warren, Paulie, KeeperKR, and I saw 7 Coquille's lined up next to each other - and we started spotting variations.

And hey - we're still at it today. :-)

__
/


[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 02-17-2002).]

I've done some business with donnascollexch.com. Very reliable and some reasonable prices from time to time.

1. The collectible exchange
2. Tom's collectibles
3. Don's Lighthouse
4. ohi exchange
5. Hix collectibles

Web address all still on my computer under my favorites.
Do you want more?


Daniel

Just to let people know, Donna's Collectibles shut down a few weeks ago. The list of Secondary dealers keeps getting smaller and smaller!

From going over the list of secondary market HLs and the prices listed in the start of this topic, I realize I got some great deals. Most of those listed were purchased by me for around 40% off those prices. I was fortunate to get the ones I did for the prices I paid.

Will we ever see those kind of values of HLs again? What it boils down to is what people are willing to give you for your HL.

The connected collectors who are members at the CF and those who deal regularly on the Net realize you can get some good buys if you're patient. You have to shop around and wheel and deal to succeed in getting the best buy.

On the other hand, you have collectors that don't want the hassle of bartering for a bargain. If they see something they want, they pay the price. After all, it's only money.

One of my Block Island friends told me something one summer that has always stuck in my mind. He told me there are basically two kinds of money. One is real money. The other is vacation money. When you're on vacation you are more apt to pay twice as much for something than you would if you going about your normal routine at home.

There will always be people out there who have plenty of expendable cash and will be willing to pay a premium price for something they want. The trick is to find them whenever you have something you want to sell.

Bob

I can remember right after the first reunion that I was offered $2000 for my Coquille, and that was from a secondary market dealer, so he had to add on his commission. I declined to sell it. I also remember him wanting to buy a New Point Loma just two years ago for $600. I also declined because they were selling at $675 at the time. I should have made that deal! I noticed someone had one recently for $350. They have really dropped lately. I guess the serious buyers were out there a few years ago and now that demand has dropped, so have the prices.

I made several secondary market purchases from Quiet Horizons in Vermont. They are still in busy.

------------------
Randall Ronne

Jim & Julie Rutherford used to run the Nautical Exchange as part of their newsletter "The Guiding Lights". I know they have frustrated some forum members by taking money for the HL guide book and newsletter, but because of them I was able to trade my NPL at the first reunion for a Cape Hatteras revised and an Admiralty Head.

I have purchased thru many of the above-mentioned secondary dealers. Only other one that I picked my Assateague up from couple of years ago was called NECE, New England Collectible Exchange. Don't know if they are still around.

Donna

My wife recently sold a Cherished Teddies piece to a guy named Bob at New England Collectibles Exchange, so I guess they're still in business. This was just a month or so ago.

Terry

Is Dee Brandt still in business? We purchased our Ocracoke (canadian #211) and Alcatraz from her at the sencond reunion. The last time we saw her was at the Rosemont show 3 years ago.
Dave and Kate

Dee has been out of business for at least a year or two now. I dealt with her in the past also - buying and selling.

I've dealt with Don's Lighthouses and have been very satisfied.

Also, there is a store called Quiet Horizons in Shaftsbury, VT, that we have bought some retired pieces from. They will put you on a waiting list if you're looking for something they don't have.

Is Dons Lighthouses still in business? I tried to get on his web page a few days back and it appears to be gone. Any clues?

Mike

Good question Mike, I dealt with Don in the past and haven't heard anything from him in a long while!

I must have missed this original posting while I was on vacation last month. It was fun reading the names of secondary dealers that I had dealt with while building my collection. One thing I realized while looking through all these posts was that I worked with most of the dealers listed for a specific type of lighthouse. Mostly I dealt with these dealers because they were reliable, you could depend on the quality of the product, they were friendly and knowledgeable, and they had unique items that I couldn't find on elsewhere. It was through many of these dealers I found pieces that you don't find floating around all the time. Lighthouses produced in California, lighthouses in original brown boxes, production errors, and very low numbers. I was willing to pay the "higher" price because my goal was not just to have a lighthouse collection, it was to have a collection of special lighthouses that it took time and effort to find. To get there it took good dealers to assist me in finding these gems. Maybe I should have waited for the prices to come down, but I also notice that many of the "special" pieces that I got during this era are not offered much any more. Maybe the purpose of these dealers during this time was to connect these unique pieces with the people that would prize them the most. I would like to say thanks to the "old" dealers listed here who helped me acquire many of the wonderful pieces that I still enjoy everyday. Although some may think that HL collecting has lost it's excitement, just list a low 2 digit, California mold, original 17 piece at a reasonable price and watch the hardcore collectors get excited. Adding a California mold Old Point Loma to my collection would make me a happy collector for a long time.