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Burnout... #773 06/01/05 10:32 AM
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Stainz Offline OP
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I started too fast... My first H-L's were GLOW's - W. Quoddy, because it was neat, and New London, because I passed by it coming and going to sea while in the USN. Of course, the little souvenir shop had a sale, too. Then, I went nuts....

I found this site - and, an offer for a bunch of H-L's on the cheap from a member fairly close to me. It became an obsession. Sadly, said member had bought a large shop's stock - an early indication of things to come. I found more 'closeout' sales... I bought everything I could find... and only a few were at list price.

I had entered the 'hobby' as it waned locally... shops were closing - or, at the very least, dropping H-L's. Nothing new in or near Birmingham, I had to resort to mail order.

My interests dropped suddenly well over a year ago when I realized how much space these items had taken... I had over two hundred, including LE's, GLOW's, and AB's. Now that I realize what I spent on them, I am further shocked. I removed ~30 last year from my shelves, and another batch earlier this year - I missed the books that had occupied the shelves more!

Oh sure, I still love lighthouses - and lightships. I just need to 'rethink' this collecting... center my interests on the Southeast - or add the East coast? Hmmm, maybe just Alabama?? How do you 'Keep The Faith' - and the interest - when you have reached this level of 'burnout'? I have even considered a 'package deal' of everything... is my answer simply 'E-Bay'??

John

Re: Burnout... #774 06/01/05 11:04 AM
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I feel your pain brother. We too started out fast, and started a buying frenzy that only a couple of double incomes, no kids could maintain. When the first kid came along, and my wife quit her job, suddenly our collecting habits we're forced to change. We became "buy the ones we've seen" type collectors. Sure, we still have a handful in boxes on the shelves but most are displayed. Which brings up the next problem. Even at buying only the ones we've seen, I've got room for about 10 more lights. After that, I don't know what we're going to do. We may be forced to stop collecting.

At the Door County event, I mentioned to Kim that the size of the lighthouses we're getting too big. She seemed to say that the next introductions would also be big. I mentioned my dilemma, but I'm not sure she got what I was saying.

I guess we'll just have to see how it all plays out. The interest is still there, but I'm not sure where it goes after that. I won't buy them to keep in boxes that's for sure.

Mike

Re: Burnout... #775 06/01/05 11:53 AM
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I have said this several times before and I will repeat it once again.

If you want to enjoy collecting, then only buy those pieces that you really like and want to display. Let the others go!!!!
Then you will enjoy the ones that you have.
There will always be new pieces that you want, so save some $$$ and save some room for them.

Re: Burnout... #776 06/01/05 08:13 PM
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I can relate to your burnout. I started collecting in 1994 and never thought that I would catch up with everything that I had missed since 1991. It took me a couple of years and a few thousand dollars back then to catch up. Since then it has not been as bad to get the lighthouses but it has been as expensive. Buy what you like and as much as you can afford to enjoy.


Rich
Re: Burnout... #777 06/01/05 10:48 PM
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Whether she (or they) get it or not, I'm glad someone said it out loud to Kim's face, Mike...most of their lights are TOO BIG...we'd all be able to buy and display (not to mention appreciate) more if they'd just shrink the size (and price) a bit, but our words are falling on deaf ears...

Re: Burnout... #778 06/04/05 09:31 AM
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I like the larger size lighthouses. The size they were in the beginning was just right for me, for awhile it was getting hard to tell the difference from the LE verses the GLOWs size wise. I will admit that some of the pieces this year are quite large. The Fourteen Foot Knoll piece with the boat is huge. Maybe an answer to the size problem is to cut out some of the add on stuff like, buildings, boats, and other related items, and focus more on the main lighthouse structure itself.

Re: Burnout... #779 06/05/05 03:35 PM
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I can relate to what everyone else is dealing with. We have built bookshelves. Then separate wall shelving. Now, our basement familyroom is lined with shelves and I again have no room. We have even purchased a couple of 3 step library steps to set lighthouses on (of course come Christmas time we display Ulbricht Nutcrackers...but that is a whole other collecting nightmare).
I keep saying this year will be the one where I only buy the event pieces and the Collector Member piece but then they come out with a group that is limited is size and that I like.
Oh well...maybe next year....

KYKEEPER - laugh

Re: Burnout... #780 06/05/05 06:03 PM
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I, too can relate. We went on autoship a few years ago to get 2 digit pieces, but last year we bought a newer house and moved, and with a Sr. in high school next year and some college after that, we had to re-think our priorities. Beside that, the larger pieces are cumbersome, (but nicely detailed) and I was getting some I probably wouldn't buy otherwise. So I have dropped autoship and started looking for specific items I want to add to our collection, like the original 17 and lights we've been to. That may be part of the reason I haven't really been on the forums that much the last 18 months or so. Thanks for the thread so I could share my goings on!!


Bud
Re: Burnout... #781 06/05/05 06:27 PM
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Sounds like the sub-topic should read "full up".. It's the collectors who have wanted all of the lighthouses in the USA made and Harbour Lights has been willing to make them, plus a few side trips for repeats, like Portland Head in the winter..

I have been playing around with the idea of displaying my full collection of Harbour Lights Little Lights in a separate cabinet. Right now they are mixed in with the LE's and OE's, sorted by lighthouses in different sections of the country...


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Burnout... #782 06/05/05 07:36 PM
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Coincidental that this thread started now--I'm in the midst of finding out there's not enough space to display the 250 pieces I have in our new home!! Four wall cabinets in my office, two 7' curio cabinets in the Living room, a barrister cabinet at the top of the stairs, and a 7' x 4' x 15" 7-shelf curio cabinet in the sitting room--all of them won't hold everything. Guess I'm going to have to stick to just getting Events, Collectors Society, and Christmas pieces. Even my mild-mannered husband is saying "enough already". But they do look SOOOO nice. . .

Re: Burnout... #783 06/20/05 07:33 AM
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I know this comment is a bit late...
But I read with interest about the difficulties with space for collections.
That is the reason we only collect the "This Little Light of Mine" Lights. It is difficult enough to find room for those. So we - for now - just collect the ones we have seen.
Those little sculptures are excuisit though. The detail is amazing!
smile


Margret
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Re: Burnout... #784 06/25/05 06:44 AM
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Susan and I collect Little Light of Mine, of the lighthouses we have seen. We also have bought a few Limited Editions that we really like. We figured early on that space was a limitation. In addition, I like to donate to lighthouses that need restoration, so I try to keep a balance between the two. smile
As far at the burnout, maybe you just need to take a break and not buy any for awhile. It would be sad frown to sell most of your collect at mostly reduced prices and wish you had them back in a year or two.


Eric, Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundation; Godfather of Jones Point River Lighthouse; member and District Commissioner of Florida Lighthouse Association et el
Re: Burnout... #785 06/25/05 12:05 PM
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Well, I'm trying to cut back, but Harbour Lights knows me too well. They keep introducing pieces that I can't live without, like Cape Charles and Price's Creek, for example.

My shelves are so cluttered now. They used to look neat. So I've got to find some more ways to display.

I love my collection; I enjoy my collection! Priorities! laugh eek

But it's those darn boxes that truly aggravate me. WHY does having the original box, packaging and papers of a piece that's been displayed "in a smoke-free" home add to the value? So the next person can pay for extra square footage in order to store the same boxes??? Doesn't make a bit of sense to me. If you go to auctions and see the value and popularity of old toys, it's not the opened packages with used toys that sell well...it's the unopened packages.
Personally, I think that the box/value thing is a miff that we here on the forums haved fueled.

And, the bigger the piece, the bigger the box!

Judy


Judy
Re: Burnout... #786 06/25/05 01:11 PM
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Bob Ott Offline
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Judy,

You are correct in many respects. The boxes seem to take up more room than the lighthouses. I've got lighthouses all over the place.

But yet I don't stop collecting. Frustrating, isn't it?

bobo

Re: Burnout... #787 06/25/05 02:00 PM
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We also got to the point where we had lighthouses sitting all over the place. Since we had to store the boxes anyway, we decided to just store the boxes with the lighthouses back in them. Now we just display the Ohio and Michigan pieces that we have along with a couple of Anchor Bays. Of course Christmas time brings the Christmas pieces and ornaments back out. We also display a separate piece for a while and replace it with a different one on a rotating basis just for a small change. Another benefit of this is less cleaning of the lighthouses because they can't gather any dust or accidently be broken while they are in the box.

Tom

Re: Burnout... #788 06/25/05 07:35 PM
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Show me where having the foam from inside the boxes adds value to the piece!!! Having the box is all that MAY add value to the piece. And if you plan on keeping your collection why even worry about the boxes. Is that so your dependents can sell the collection when you pass away?

Now mind you, I'm not making fun of you if you save the foam inserts but why would you? The inserts won't add a penny to the resale value and if it does, where does it say so in any book. I save the folded up boxes and certificates and trash the foam. Should I ever decide to sell the collection, foam peanuts work fine to place in the FOLDED UP BOXES. Those of you that save the foam are causing yourself grief and storage problems. I bet you I could get within a couple of dollars one way or the other if we were selling the same piece with or without foam inserts.

Again, I challenge anybody out there to prove that the foam inserts are worth saving. Are there any takers?


Rich
Re: Burnout... #789 06/25/05 09:25 PM
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Aaaaah the dreaded box raises its corrugated head once more. I just receive Hilton Head Front Range today. Opened-unplasticized it, kept the COA put in "The Lightouse Room". I've 8 tier shelves made of blond mahogany (no need to worry about glass) and I enjoy looking them all over when I have the chance. As for the box and foam insert it went to that big orange dumpster. I onced stored the boxes but within 6 months realized they weren't worth the storage cost. Yes, I too am cutting back. Now at 276 LE's and lightships. Harbour Lights purchases are much like people- it's what's inside that counts the most.


KonaSatch
Re: Burnout... #790 06/25/05 10:15 PM
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I can prove that the boxes have an effect on the price but not inserts. I have a spreadsheet of the first 40 full of prices with box’s verses no-box. There is definitely a noticeable difference. On some of the more collectables you can see up to a hundred dollars difference, in some cases even more. A Canadian Southern Bell can demand twice as much if it has its castle studios box. Haven’t really followed any of the lighthouses with out inserts. But I would think that the more complete the lighthouse the better chance of selling it for what you want. In other words, it should be worth more.
There are collectors that want complete lighthouse with all its fixings. I know, for I am one. I would never buy a lighthouse without its styrene insert. Unless it was extremely cheap and I would use it for the office.
On the other hand if you have no plan of selling or moving and the only solution you can make-work is get rid of inserts, well so be it. Most likely if it has a styrene insert, its secondary market is only around $35 to$55 anyway and I couldn’t imagine the missing styrene effecting its market price for more than $5.
There are a few lighthouses that have styrene inserts that do demand a secondary market and if all possible I recommend that their inserts be saved. They are of course:

1.All reunion L.E’s and mini’s
2.Big Bay Christmas-The later ones had inserts
3.Grays harbor –rotated top
4.All gold plated event pieces
5.Early Christmas pieces
6.Cape Canaveral


Also you may want to keep styrene inserts for the more intricate lighthouses that have breakable parts.


DANIEL
Re: Burnout... #791 06/25/05 10:17 PM
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There are some very good comments here. I keep the boxes for only one reason -- when I can afford to move, I will have something in which to pack the lighthouses.

No other reason, because I never intend to sell any of them. They are much too valuable and meaningful to me.

If I should ever be forced to move into a home for the physically and/or mentally challenged, the walls of my room will be lined with my lighthouses.

After that, I guess it doesn't make much difference.

bobo

Re: Burnout... #792 06/25/05 11:33 PM
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All good input and ideas, however, the only reason I can see to save the foam inserts is the collector's preference. There is still NO SOLID proof that the inserts are worth a hill of beans. The boxes are without a doubt worth keeping because of a potential increase in value(depending on the piece itself) but somehow paying monthly rental on a storage unit or filling a useful room or garage with a bunch of boxes and foam does not play out in my mind. I would much rather take the $30-$40 storage fee for a rental unit and put it towards buying another lighthouse. I would also much rather use the rooms in my house to live in or put my car in the garage rather then take the room to store these foam inserts. Again it's all in the mind set of the collector whether they save the inserts in the boxes or flip the inserts in the trash and fold the boxes up. I myself have over 300 boxes folded up in 5 rubbermaid containers in the garage and guess what? I still park both my cars in there and even have room for my lawnmowers. Also, with no room space wasted saving foam inserts in the house I even manage to have the room to display all 300 lighthouses.


Rich
Re: Burnout... #793 07/04/05 04:26 AM
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Stainz Offline OP
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Rich,

Interesting suggestion re the foam inserts. Two local stores actually kept their display H-L's boxes folded due to space problems, using bubble wrap or peanuts once they were sold. Interestingly, both stores have dropped H-L - actually, no one in or near Birmingham carries them, save a shop's LLOM collection.

I also have a train hobby - G-scale, the large trains. Most of my 30+ engines and 100+ cars are LGB - made in Germany. The big styrofoam-filled boxes are in my attic... no telling what improvement I got in my R value there as a result. Sadly, there isn't room up there for the H-L boxes.

I feel better re my collection. I guess the letter from H-L made me wonder what the future would be with them, as the newsletter was canned. I'll hang on a bit longer... next February will mark two years since my last new purchase... perhaps it is time to add some 300+ numbers to my collection... if I could just 'see' them somewhere first!

John

Re: Burnout... #794 07/04/05 10:23 AM
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John,
As I said above, saving the foam inserts is a collector's preference. The early pieces came with peanuts so it is a no brainer there. Peanuts is Peanuts and I challenge any collector to tell the difference between HL peanuts or Walmart peanuts. The later lights came with foam inserts and seeing as how most of these have no secondary market value so to speak what difference does it make whether you get $25.00 without foam or $30.00 with foam? It's all collector's preference.


Rich
Re: Burnout... #795 07/04/05 12:06 PM
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DANIEL Offline
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One thing that I have noticed over the years is nothing stays the same.
Will peanut always be there? They have all ready changed in shape and colors from the original ones used by Harbour Lights? Does anyone ever turn down a lighthouse because they didn’t have the original peanuts? Not that I know of. But With the price of oil climbing and Styrofoam being made from oil, I bet in the future the Styrofoam peanuts will give way to a cheaper recycled material. Will collectors still not care that they are not the origianl peanuts if the materal is not the same?

But as I have said before. The closer the collectable is original the better its worth.
When ever a seller can convince the buyers that he is selling a complete original packaged Harbour Light that was never displayed except for inspection the seller will definitely receive a better return for it.

My advice if all possible keep it all original.


DANIEL
Re: Burnout... #796 07/04/05 06:26 PM
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Bigbird Offline
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Judy Said: And, the bigger the piece, the bigger the box!


Unless you're the exception to the rule like New Canal Light, LA!! :p

I was just at my lone dealer since the Ingles Nook in Portsmouth has closed (if not, all but...) anyway, she told me that (though this is a little off this topic) as you were speaking of less given as prices go up, the display "stand" is no longer supplied to seperate the member pieces as just that instead of looking like just any other retail piece to the average customer that walks in.

Steve


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Re: Burnout... #797 07/14/05 11:36 PM
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I'm with you Daniel.

Re: Burnout... #798 07/23/05 05:24 PM
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Reading all the coments about styrofoam one thing comes to my mind. You can not put some lighthouses back in the styrofoam because trees and other items were assembled after removing from the styrofoam. Removing these items for repacking can damage them because they have barbed bases.

I got rid of the styrofoam from these boxes to insure the lighthouses would not be damaged if someone, not knowing the problem, tried to repack them.

Just my thoughts.

Re: Burnout... #799 07/25/05 12:36 PM
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Quote:
You cannot put some lighthouses back in the styrofoam because trees and other items were assembled after removing from the styrofoam.
I hate to say it but I don't recall having to assemble any of the HL's I purchased via my autoship. I must admit that some of them can be a pain to repack when you remove certain pieces of the sponge/foam type material used to protect trees, flag poles, etc. from breakage in shipment.

I'm in favor of keeping the styrofoam molds. They are your best protection if you need to return your HL to its original box for storage or shipment. The new pieces of today have some parts that really need the protection of their original styrofoam packing. Bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts aren't the same as the original styrofoam mold.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Re: Burnout... #800 07/25/05 02:16 PM
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I'm with you Bob. I cannot recall ever having to put any of my lighthouses together. I had one where the tree was loose in the hole. the tree could be removed but a dab of super glue fixed that. Other then that nary a one needed to be put together.


Rich
Re: Burnout... #801 07/25/05 06:45 PM
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I wonder if hcorey is referring to HL635 Pt Allerton, which came with the boat and wagon/cart that were separate. And I also think it was HL634 St Helena that the tree was wrapped separately and had to be inserted into its place??


Melody
Re: Burnout... #802 07/25/05 06:52 PM
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St. Helena could have been the tree that I glued in but it was already installed as I remember.


Rich
Re: Burnout... #803 07/26/05 06:12 PM
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I've been collecting HL's since the year they came out...and with each new year I say to myself "that's it." But then, along comes a new model that I can't do without and it's "back to the same o'rationale." smile


Brent
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Re: Burnout... #804 07/27/05 12:24 AM
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St. Helena had a little "idiot" card with it to install the roof piece cut-away and the tree and then don't handle/remove them after assembling them and Two Harbors had a flag pole that was taped(?) into the recess of the styrofoam and had to be put in the hole. After putting it in a couple of times (of course after removing to pack for moving and to go to this years in-store event) it doesn't fit as snugly. Maybe I need crazy glue, too. confused :rolleyes:

Steve


Health through education, for a much misguided nation!!

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