do any of you know anything about the harbour light, "BALLINACOURTY" i've not yet come across this one until reciently! saw a picture of it, and it comes in a different box! it is an ireland light! do any of you have it? is it possible for me to obtain one? here's another thought; does harbour lights make pieces not found in the U.S.?

thanks for any insight,
russ
rustyjax@juno.com

Russ-

I believe that HL produced a line a few years back that only sold in the UK. It was the "Pharos Collection" or something like that, and consisted of only 4-5 lights. I don't know that much about it, but remember hearing of it. Another person who is more knowlegeable than I can probably give you the details.

Russ,

There is a Ballinacourty Point, Ireland, Issue# PC105. Is is a part of what was called the British Pharos Collection. The Pharos Collection consisted of five (5) pieces:

Portland Bill, England, Dorset, Issue# PC101
Trwn Du, Wales, Issue# PC103
Needles Point, England, Isle of Wight, Issue# PC104
Ballinacourty Point, Ireland, Issue# PC105
Bell Rock, Scotland, Issue# 107

Three other pieces were produced with no Issue#:

Bishop Rock, England
Longstone, England
Old Lundy (Lundy Island), England, British Channel

It is my understanding that Harbour Lights decided to eliminate future pieces "Made in England" because of poor quality and sub-standard workmanship

I think that they look pretty neat. But who am I to say?

To add to what Bob posted may shed some more light on the subject. They were originally going to be sold in the States but this never happened. I am assuming because of the workmanship standards not matching up to the Harbour Lights Line. Those of us that were lucky enough to latch on to these "jewels in the rough" got them through dealers in England. You may still find one or more still available in England and if your lucky you may find a set of 5 still available. Getting matched numbers is close to an impossibility as even when the pieces were readily available you couldn't find matching numbers of five. You may even advertise on the Forums and find a set. Seems to me about a year or so ago someone advertised a set of 5 for close to retail. I personally like the looks of them and wish that Harbour Lights had not decided to terminate them. I believe that only about 400 or so sets were made and the numbers did not start in England at serial number 1 but did start a lot higher. My lowest number is 2117 and end at 2290. I paid $240.00 for my set and $25.00 for shipping from England. It took 6 days from the time I ordered till they were on my front steps. Any body else got something to add?

I have a complete set of the Pharos Collection. I've never displayed them and only took them out of the box to inspect them when they arrived at my home. They are very well done and I find no substandard workmanship at all. I did offer them for sale prior to Christmas, if my memory serves me correctly. One person was interested but then never came back for them. They may go up for sale again soon!

Bob

Does anyone know if these are "Pharo" size or "Little Light of Mine" size?

Jim,

The three pieces:

Bishop Rock, England, Cornwall
Longstone, England, Northumberland
Old Lundy (Lundy Island), England, Bristol Channel

are all "Pharos" size. (Similar to the earlier Harbour Lights Limited Editions.) There are three British Little Lights with the same name. There are a total of 12 British Little Lights -- which include the three listed above. The additional nine are:

Beachy Head, East Susses
Bell Rock, Scotland
Eddeystone, Devon
Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Longships, Cornwall
Needles Point, England, Isle of Wight
North Foreland, Kent
Portland Bill, England, Dorset
St. Anthony Head, Cornwall

Hope this helps.

_____________________

Bob

Russ, and any other relatively new members around here, just wanted to let you know that by using the search function at the top of the pages here in the forums, you can find most of the information that you might ever need about HL's. I typed in pharos as the search term and found 74 matches including these "oldie but goodie threads":
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000849#000000
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000977#000000

thanks for your reply's. and to jim for those links! you know, i've been collecting harbour lights for about 10 years now, and just now learning about the "pharos collection". a little embarrased! anyway, reading some of the past posts that jim brought up, i've learned that im like most avid, harbour light collector,,
i want anything i can't, or am not suposed to get!
and i believe most of you are simular, if harbour lights put out a peice that was a total mess, you would go out of your way to get one! i believe i'll chalk that up to a devotion to my collection!
in those old "posts", there was much applause to stop the pharos cause of quality! think about guys, we hunt the imperfections!
who was it that had a colletion of the pharos for sale? and, can i buy them?
russ