Selling of Lighthouse Collection

I am downsizing and would like to be able to sell my lighthouse collection off for the price that I paid for each one. I have every lighthouse (original first 500)made with low numbers and signed by the founder of Harbour Lights. Can someone direct me into how I can do this?

Cynthia Pinkstaff

You can only sell Harbour Lights items on this website and only in the "Trading Post" Forum. You are very unlikely to be able to sell your collection for what you spent to buy them. Check out eBay and you'll see HLs go for perhaps $10. There are a few exceptions, especially among the items released in the first few years. Educate yourself on those through the Harbour Lights Collectors Guide book. Ideally you have a list of the pieces with their HL #, serial number and whether they are signed or not by Bill Younger. In your post, you can either list the items or offer to email the list to those who contact you. Be sure to include your email address in your posts.

In the Trading Post, others cannot respond to your post so they will have to respond by email.

To add to what John posted above, except for a few exceptions (i.e. Original HL102, revised HL102, HL111 etc.), if you can get 25 cents on the dollar you will be doing good. When, an if you check Ebay, don't look at what the sellers are asking for their pieces, but, rather check completed listings and see what they ACTUALLY sold for. Also, forget what the pieces used to sell for during HLs peak period or what you paid for them and concentrate on what they are worth now. I paid $500 for my first revised HL102 in 1996 and since that time I bought another one several years ago for $80.00.

To add to what Rich and John said.
Here is an example. I paid $550 for my L.E. St augustine back in 1998 and I just got another one on ebay a couple of months ago for $20. And it was a red roof version that is very rare.

Daniel, are you talking about St. Augustine HL 138? What would be a red roof one? I have a St Augustine HL 138 that's red on top and is flag # 4645. It's signed by Bill and I got it on eBay and I sure didn't pay very much for it, I don't remember right now.
Kathleen

What Daniel was referring to is the roof top leading into the tower having a red roof versus the normal brown roof. I first noticed this when I bought my St. Augustine in 1994 at the Ancient Mariner Gift Shop in St Augustine. The store display had a brown roof and when they brought me one from the back room and I inspected it the roof was red. My son-in-law that was born and raised in St. Augustine said to take the red roof version because that is the way the roof should be so I took the red roof version.

Later on when I met Daniel he told me that the red roof version was rare (he knows the rough number of these in a certain serial number range) and so then I started noticing the majority of St. Augustines had the brown roof. I also bought a brown roof version to have both versions. I noticed the red roof version on Ebay and let Daniel know about it since I didn't need another one. The red roof versions are all in the serial number range of approximately 3300 +/- 100.