Coquille River Ebay with a red Ball

I just saw this on Ebay. Any comments from 'those in the know.'

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=211309979

I would say it was repaired and for some strange reason they painted it red. I can't tell exactly because the images are so fuzzy, but the ventilator ball doesn't appear to have a hole in the top where the lightning rod should be. You could always e-mail the seller and see what they say about it.

SaintWackoPaul '
Keep the Flame

I passed the photo on to HL last week. They know of no 'red' ball Coquilles. Probably a home repair.

It's way out of my price range! But there were 28 bids, and I was surprised it wasn't discussed here earlier in the bidding?

Thanks John, and Paul.

Below the pictures, the seller has added several comments:
She claims that she bought it brand new with the red ventilator ball. In addition, she adds that it does have the little wire sticking out. The picture does not show that. However, with the dark background may be hiding it.

It does seem like someone else other than Harbour light painted the ventilator red. Why? Just because it is not the same as all the other coquille that we have seen. That may not be a good enough reason to rule it out as being an original red tip.
Remember the early HL did not have the quality control as they do now. Many Artist use to do what is called “Artist preference”. If an artist ran out of a color, they may use an other one. If an artist thought that the figurine needed more color, he would add to it. I have seen a St. Augustine with a red roof on the building that adjoins the tower. The standard one has a brownish roof. The HL Brochure also shows a red roof.
At The St Augustine Lighthouse, there is a St Augustine Harbour Light LE with a gray base instead of a Standard tan one.

I know from my own experience that a HL that is different from the rest is not necessary a good reason to say it is not original.

I bought a Cape Hatteras R102 off the Internet over a year ago. It was in excellent shape so I kept it. A month later my dealer tells me a story about how a person bought a HL from the internet, that had the tower glued back on. I asked how could you tell. He informs me that it would be shiny with a yellowish tint at the base where not all the glue was wiped off. I started to think. My Cape Hatteras is shiny and has a yellowish cast at the top of the base where it meets the black and white tower.

I was very concerned about it so I called Harbour lights. They checked their existing Hatteras that was on displayed. It was not shiny. The Lady I talk to also asked someone else there and they never heard of any of the Hatteras having that condition. I then called a Habour Light Specialist who felt that what I was describing was old yellowed glue at the base of tower. But he would have to see it for sure.

Finally, I took it to Bill Younger at a local signing. I show him the yellowish area and asked him if this was glue. To my surprise, he told me that it was a type of Antiquing. There were two types of Antiquing done on the Hatteras. The one that was done on mine was dipped in shellac.

At the Atlanta event, I got a chance to talk to Kim Andrews about My Hatteras. She added that the Antiquing process that was done on mine was very rare. In addition, She left me with a tip. NEVER HAVE A HARBOUR LIGHT RESTORED BECAUSE OF PAINT DIFFERENCES. MAYBE IT IS SUPPOSE TO BE THAT WAY.

Well after all that, do I feel that the Coquille on Ebay is original with a red tip? POSSIBLE!!!!




[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited 12-07-99).]

I asked Patty to call Harbour Lights yesterday about this exact topic. Tracy from Harbour Lights, said that someone had just called with the same question and that they had to go straight to Bill for the answer. Bill stated that NO Coquilles had ever been done with a red ventilator bulb. I hope this little bit of info. is helpful.

Well someone wanted it - for $1251. If in fact this was repaired and repainted do we have an idea of what its value would actually be? (I don't even know what a perfect one is worth!)

This is just to get the topic back to the top of the forum. I'll point out that several Coquille's have sold recently (all mint & original) in the same price range as "old Red Ball".

My guess is that the black repair did not match so they tried red?

Maybe it was the Christmas version?