What I would love.....

I would love to see a current (2003) Harbour Lights book that showed all products from HL and what the current prices are. I use to collect M. I. Hummel figurines and there were at least several price guides on the market. I'm new to Harbour Lights and wish I had more info.

Ocracoke Dreaming

Hi Dave, ...You and everyone else who visits this forum would love to have such a guide. The last book, dedicated strictly to Harbour Lights, was the "Greenbook Guide to Harbour Lights" that was issued to cover everything from the beginning to 1998. Most of us found the estimated values to be 25-30% (in most cases) over the actual worth, but it was extremely informative and helpful in establishing secondary market pricing.


Bob

I agree. It would be a great help in buying as well as selling.

Hi Bob, thanks for the info. Lets all put our heads together and come up with a book and make thousands and thousands of dollars..ha ha.


Ocracoke Dreaming

That Greenbook Guide was always like the HL Bible.
We need an updated one, even though it seems not many of the newer pieces have gained any appreciation.

Unfortunately, Greenbook gave the guide up. It wasn't a very big seller. You can't sell 100,000 copies when you only have a limited amount of serious collectors amounting to less than 5% of that.

If a secondary market pricing guide was to be released right now, the general collector population would see things they really don't want to see. By this I mean limited editions selling at prices far below retail. How do you think that would make an HL dealer feel to see the piece he or she is offering at $75 is only worth $40-$50 on the secondary market. Where do you think the consumer will go to purchase that piece?

What would be nice to have is something Greenbook did put out but without secondary market values. What I mean is a book about every HL ever made including a little history about the actual light, the number of pieces HL made of the light, what variations were found, etc.

Will this kind of book ever become a reality? Maybe someday if someone is willing to put the project together and follow it through to the end.

Bob

I like your idea Bob about coming up with a new book that would tell about each piece and some history about each piece. Maybe some day in the near future a book of this caliber will be published.

Ocracoke Dreaming

Yeah, maybe we could ressurect Jim Rutherford and he could start publishing his Harbour Lights Survival Guide again. Even though Rutherford bailed out on a lot of us without sending the 6th edition that we paid for, the book was the best I've seen on Harbour Lights. The histories, variations, yearly breakdowns on each pieces made by HL, information such as total number made and value of each piece was incredible. It far outpassed the Greenbook and any other publication put in print. Why, oh why, did you have to do us dirty Jim?

Rich

I wish someone would come out with book that would keep us current with all the perspectives from the collectors position. I would buy one.
jake

At one time there was a spreadsheet available that charted prices for selected HL's on Ebay. I think there was a dedicated collectors group that tracked certain items, submitted them to a central person, whom then compiled them into a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet was made available at no cost for downloading from one of the forums. Reserecting this idea could be a good way of charting current prices and making them accessable to forum users.

If there are truely 5000 dedicated collectors (5% of 100,000 mentioned above) and 250 (5% of these 5000) tracked 1 specific HL on Ebay and they made the spreadsheet available to all on the formum, there would be a lot of winners. The trackers would be able to track lighthouses they were interested in. Other members would have a valuable guide to use for their own purposes. All members would become independant of publishers like the Green Book, and the data would be relatively current. You could even rotaate trackers to have coverage for people when the main trackers are unavailable. Overall, all members of the forum could have a common project that could bind them, and new members would be given something to get them involved, thus spreading the addiction to HL collecting, which would hopefully drive up secondary prices.

I think that it is a win-win-win scenario for all, and the cost is only th time and effort expended by the trackers. We all would end up with a product we all want, and we could build some comradery in the process. The only option I can think of that could be better option is to find someone (maybe Harbour Lights)that would be crazy enough to do it all. Instead of wishing for something that is good, why can't we create our own destiny.

I agree with you Dick 100%. It's just going to take someone to sit down and do some figuring. It sure would be nice to have that information available to the collector.

in my new topic called pamphlet idea, I have stated that I've been toying around with trying to do something on a price guide. The ideas being discussed here are useful information. I would like to see a guide that lists each piece, gives a brief history, retail price of the item, and a current sales price average taken from e-bay and whatever other secondary market prices we can collect. I agree that the more people who can help gather the information from the secondary market, the easier the job will be and the more accurate the information becomes. I watch e-bay a lot and find that certain lighthouses appear with a vast range of prices. It's almost like some feel that they can grab a high price because the item is retired or "rare" and others take a more reasonable approach of needing to sell and not speculating on value.

There are many factors that govern what a Harbour light will sell for. Most prices are not a surprise if you research the item on ebay.
Why can One North Head can go for $250 and an other go for $50.
If you research the North head there are many good reason.
Things that affect the ebay sale:
1. Clean pictures showing complete piece.
2. Emails answered promptly and correctly
3. Good ebay rating
4. The time and day will definitely effects bid.
5. Miss-spellings. A lot of sellers have taken a hard hit miss spelling Harbour.
6. A good or bad salesman. I have had sellers on ebay never answer any of my questions. I will never buy off of anyone that won’t email me back.

Now things that most of the high paying collector looks for that will affect the bid.
1. What country was it made in? Canadians bring in a higher price than a Malaysian. California bring in a higher price than a Canadian
2. A Rod- a bend rod usually doesn’t matter. A broken one does. A loose may hurt the price a little depending on the LE
3. If it is a Canadian, does it have a Canadian sticker?
4. Box color will definitely affect the bid. With a Canadian a blue box can drag the bid down, while a brown will definitely bring in a good price.
5. Condition of box
6. Does number on box match number on Lighthouse?
7. Paint variations.
8. Condition of felt.
9. Earthquake clay will definitely hurt a bid.
10. Sometimes the color of the felt can bring in a better price. Usually not. The Color is usually used to identify where it was manufactured. But one seller on ebay had a hard time selling his Burrows until he saided that it had a gray felt and that a collector said that it was from California. It worked He sold it at a good price. But a gray felt doesn’t always mean it is a California. Many Canadian burrows had gray felt.
11. The biggest blow that will bring a Lighthouse down on ebay, besides paint chips and a broken ventalor is: NO BOX

Well stated, Dan! I still check eBay more than once each day looking for real bargains to offer for resale later.

Our beloved collectibles are not bringing high prices right now. Even the most desireable pieces are selling lower than ever.

I guess it all boils down to the actual worth is what someone is willing to pay you for it.

That's the word from the East Coast where it's 34 degrees with mixed precipitation on a dark and gloomy day./ Look on the bright side...the temp is above freezing!

Bob

I read with interest Daniel's response. How does one acquire this vast knowledge of the hobby? Where does one acquire information on whether a model is a Canadian, or made in California, or produced in Malaysia, what color the box should be, and the myriad of other details that make for a knowledgable collector?

1. Read every thing that is in the Harbour Light web site.
a. Read every thing on the first forty lighthouses.
b. Read the Glossary on rods, boxes, felts and variations.
c. Read the variations area.

2. Get a Harbour Lights Survival Guide
a. You may try to find one on this Forum under new market.

3. Buy a Green book Guide to Harbour Lights.
a. The Green book is often on the ebay from $21 to $50.
b. Also try the new market place.

4. Follow the Market place and ebay.
a. Ask question on any of the early ones. The above will teach you what question to ask. Keep a log on what you have found out. Study all Pictures.

5. Buy as many as you can so that you can learn first hand.

6. Read every thing in this fourm.

7. Time and experience

I thought of writing in this forum about each of the first forty and list all of their variations and how to identify A California and Canadian made. Didn’t know how much interest there would be.

thank you for a prompt reply. I have the Green Book. I just learned of the Harbour Lights Survival Guide this week and will try to locate a copy. I, for one, would be very interested in the history of the first 40 lighthouses.

Go for it Daniel. I would love to see it done.

Rich