Fire destroyed boxes and paperwork

Hi,
My family was in the process of moving and had many items in a storage warehouse, including most of my Harbour Lights collection. The storage facility burned, and the boxes and paperwork for all of the lighthouses were destroyed, as were some of the lighthouses themselves. (They sent off some of the other lighthouses to a restoration service that cleaned them and removed the smoke smell.) The insurance company was very good about paying the original retail value of the lighthouses that were destroyed, but they are having trouble finding a good way to determine how much the value is lowered for those that have missing paperwork and boxes. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Thanks!!

You can contact Harbour Lights at 1-800-365-1219 and ask for Patty. Most paperwork (COAs) and stickers for the bottom of the lighthouse (on the felt)can be replaced for free if there are extras available. The boxes cannot be replaced as they do not sell or keep extra boxes.

There is no known formula for determining the value of a lighthouse without paperwork and boxes during this day. The accepted formula was, several years ago when there was a secondary market for Harbour Lights, any lighthouse without a box was decreased in value by approximately 10% -20% and without paperwork an additional 10% depending on the lighthouse and demand. That is no longer true and today the rule is "if I can get what I originally paid for the lighthouse I will count myseld lucky" with or without a box.

I'm sure others will chime in so don't take this for authority. If they will give you 10% - 20% of the original retail value for the missing boxes and paperwork, I WOULD COUNT MYSELF VERRRRY LUCKY.

Patti no longer is at Harbour Lights/Lighthouse Depot, Rhonda is handling things at Harbour Lights now..

Hi Tracey
Rich gave you some good percentages . But if you want something right out of a book. You can find it in writing on page 13 of “The Genuine GREENBOOK Guide to Harbour Lights” that states that “No box can reduce the value by 20-25 %”
I know how insurances like values out of a book so if you would like I can scan this out of the book with the cover page and email it to you. Let me know. Since the paperwork is also missing, I would go with the 25% reimbursement.

Hi Daniel,
Thanks so much for your offer. That would be great if you could email those pages to me. My email address is tmwinters@juno.com. I really appreciate it.
Thanks Again!
Tracy

The only problem is that the GREENBOOK was published in 1998-1999 when HLs was at it's peak. Now that HLs is at an all time low with lighthouses virtually being given away, I would tend not to be too greedy and ask for 25% unless they want to see it in writing..

Rich
I totally disagree with you. I don’t see how the value ratio of a box toward the value of the lighthouse has anything to do with the market value changing. If we use the 25% theory on a lighthouse with its box that is going for say $20 dollars in today’s market then the same lighthouse that does not have a box would go for around $15. That sounds about right to me.

Now if Tracey has an agreement with the insurance company to get original retail value of the lighthouse then he should be entitled to get the original retail value of the box. I don’t see this being greedy at all but just collecting on what the policy says Tracey is entitled to. If this is not acceptable to the insurance company I am sure they will inform Tracey.

Tracey
I will get the two pages emailed to you tomorrow morning.

Just out of curiosity, was that the fire in Griffith (the storage facility) recently ?

Hi Mark,
This fire was in Greensburg (in southeast Indiana) several months ago, but we're still working out the final details on the insurance settlement.
Tracy

Good Grief! When did this happen? ....first it was Tony, now Patty... I wonder who's next. Another strike on the ole HL home front... As Charlie Brown would say... "O' Brother".