Hope some of the people that requested the Hooper Straight Light from someone attending the reunion was/were able to obtain one, being that I have seen a boat-load for sale from $475.00 to $1,200.00 on e-bay and collectors forum. For I was one of the early ones to post a message about purchasing a lighthouse from one who was attending the reunion and did not even receive a single responce. (Collecting for 4.5 years).

I would go for the 475.00 one but not the
higher priced one.

The secondary market for Hooper Strait HL640 is trying to find the price. People can ASK whatever they want. A few will buy at the highest price, but not many.

Keep in mind that ~800 people attended the Reunion and ~1,100 HL640s were ordered by those attending. Meaning for about 300 'extras' were ordered.

Some couples only ordered 1, some 2, some 3, some 4. How many 'extras' are there? We don't know how many couples or families or singles were there.

Someone with time on their hands could go through the directory and count who is listed (family members attending but not as paid attendees are not included in the directory.)

So figure how many 'family units' attended, subtract that from 1100 and figure how many 'extras' there could be on the market.

At the 1997 Reunion, about 480 attended ordering 950 New Point Lomas. I think there were about 275 'family units' so 950-275 = 675 available to sell extras. That was a lot. Initial sales of NPL started at about $400 and climbed $100 per week until reaching $1,200. When those with extra NPLs in their closet saw that they could recover the entire cost of the reunion by selling extras, many went on the market and the oversupply caused the price to drop. Today, it's probably about $475-$600.

Just my personal opinion, of course. Not official.

Fresnalhead: Sorry to hear that you didn't get any responses. I also was one that posted a message months ago and received only 2 responses. Of those two responses, 1 went sour and the other........who knows.

I too wish to secure this wonderful piece but I don't think eBay is the way to go. HL surely out did themselves when they made the roof of Hooper Strait come off to reveal the inside rooms and intricate furnishings. I wish they did this to future lighthouses. This piece is as awsome as the two new 2002 fresnel lenses.

I would rather pay extra for a complete set of reunion items that a few people offered in the HL Marketplace forum then individual pieces. (of course they sold within hours...)

I think all of this is very interesting for a $85 piece. I should have tried harder to get to the Reunion and subsidized my trip.

Just have faith and pray that something comes along... that's what I'm doing.

Christopher

You're right about subsidizing the trip, Chris. Buying extra reunion pieces was definitely a great way for a guaranteed return "plus" for your money. Many collectors, including myself, look at the extra pieces as a way to get some of the money back we've spent on our collection. It is also a way to trade for some of those very hard to get and expensive pieces.

Some collectors will save an extra set for trade for future reunion exclusives. There's no guarantee that those collectors, who attended the last two or three reunions, will be able to attend the next one.

So don't think of those people who weren't willing to part with their extra reunion pieces as being greedy. They are just watching out for an opportunity to better their collection or maybe recoup some of the money they have invested in HL's.

Bob

This family unit of 1 only ordered 1 piece. Now if I had ordered the extra one I would have been faced with the decision - offer it to someone who could not attend, sell it to recoup a portion of reunion costs or keep both and use them as bookends. At least this is one small thing I don't have to worry about.

While I can understand why collectors would want this piece it doesn't bother me that I don't have the New Point Loma or Rose Island Reunion Exclusives. Didn't go, don't have them, not a big deal. Which begs the question why are extra pieces offered to begin with? Seeing they are why call them "exclusives"? Maybe they should be called Reunion Extras?

Is the offering of these extras HL's way of enabling more people to attend who wouldn't have gone otherwise because of the cost?

If no extras had been offered would the same number of folks attended? In this case an extra would be defined as more than one per family unit.

Not trying to start anything here, just wondering.

To those who couldn't attend and are looking good luck. Since these extras are out there you may get lucky but probably not unless you decide to purchase one at a price you are comfortable with. Many will be sold and some may be given as gifts or already promised to someone.

Good point Sue. I was wondering the exact same thing. The very fact that Harbour Lights let's you buy extras show they are acknowledging the fact there is a Secondary Market for these pieces. Kinda doesn't make it that exclusive. If the price of the piece was included in the cost of the Reunion,and there was no extras available, this would certainly be more of "exclusive" than "extra"

Mike

"I think all of this is very interesting for a $85 piece." The basic flaw in that statement is that an individual had to pay $800.00 plus or a couple had to pay $1100.00 plus to have the opportunity to buy the $85.00 piece. This is in addition to the cost of transportation and other expenses on top of the registration fees to attend the reunion. I don't think that it's fair to criticize anyone for considering the true cost of an item before they set the selling price that they feel they need to get back for that item.
I know that many collectors here did pick up extras for friends that could not attend the reunion. I also know of many many other examples of very generous gestures that collectors have performed for other participants of these forums. I think that one of the best results of collecting Harbour Lights and frequenting these forums has been the development of our "wacko friendships" that we share in trips to events and collector shows between reunions and in the development of local HL collector clubs.
Harbour Lights is offering this lighthouse (in a slightly different format) to every member of the collectors society, so no one was denied the ability to have an LE of this light. For those that want some discussion about exclusive Reunion pieces take a look at JTA's thoughts: http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum17/HTML/000026.html
So, to sum my thoughts up, I am not criticizing anyone for complaining that they couldn't get a reunion exclusive "at cost", but I can understand it. But I also don't think you can paint the whole group as uncaring and greedy either.
Jim
Johnson

You just got to be patient! I sold my extra Hooper for a whopping $85. Why? I don't know! Am I stupid? Probably! Maybe because for most of the year I felt like you. I wasn't able to go because I called in a day late and was 95th on the list and going nowhere. I thought I'd never get that piece. When I was informed that I could go, a few weeks before the reunion, I just felt lucky enough to be able to go. I just wanted to share that experience, as much as possible, to another forum family member who, like myself, felt as I did. Secondary market has alot to be desired, but its anybody's right to ask what they want for any piece. Though, sometimes, I don't agree with certain ways certain people go about it. I've been burned by the best of them, but atleast I have the decency not to slander their name to other collectors. But that's another story. IT IS the buyer's right to wait for their price to come along... By the way, I was able to get a third Hooper's at the reunion from somebody who only wanted one. It's spoken for, but the asking price was also $85. Don't give up. Not everybody wants your first born.

[This message has been edited by JeffMarsh (edited 10-25-2001).]

Some of these replies can be a little misleading. If a person makes a profit on selling a collectible, he or she should not be considered less than perfect. The whole collectible industry is based on someone making a buck each time an item is sold. It makes the whole process interesting and fun.

We all see HL models we have purchased for sale on the secondary market, some below what we paid, some above. People sell things when they need to or feel like it. Sometimes they make a buck, sometimes they don't.

Sooner or later the collectibles you own now will be sold, if not by you, then by your heirs. I haven't heard any reports of any HL collector wanting to be buried in an eighteen-foot Ryder Rental truck with his or her entire collection (Now Digger, don't be thinking about how long it would take to dig that hole!) It just won't happen.

I think back over the last four years or so and remember the premium prices I paid to build my collection. It may have cost $60 when it came out but I paid eight times that for many pieces. You know I didn't begrudge that person that profit. I was happy to get the piece for my collection. Another thing that also must be considered is not all pieces I've purchased were bought at retail. Some pieces I bought may have had two or three owners before me. The guy or gal I bought them from may have made only a few dollars on their sale. They were happy to sell and I was happy to buy.

I guess the bottom line is you do what makes you happy. I have four Hooper Straits. I will be keeping one for my collection. I will be giving one as a gift to an unsuspecting friend at Christmas. I will sell one to whomever is willing to pay what I want for it. I will sell the other with a complete reunion package.

I've probably spent between $18,000 and $20,000 on my collection. Selling a few extra pieces at a premium price will not make back what I've spent, but it will feel good to make a few extra bucks to pay for new releases.

Bob

Well put Bob. I believe it's called Free Enterprise. Just one more thing that makes America great!

Mike

Very interesting topic, particularly Mombo's thoughts. Baltimore was our first Reunion, when I was lucky enough to get thru last November I took a deep breath when I gave my charge card info. Being very naive I ordered only one Hooper Strait (the trip total alone was enough). But somehow Harbour Lights took my order of one to mean one for both my husband & myself. I didn't realize this until I was checking my confirmation info, but at that point the two pieces were already paid for.

I'm sorry now that I didn't order two each, especially when Bill announced at the Sunday Brunch that there were a few extras that could be purchased after the brunch. We were in too much of hurry to get on the road.

Both my husband & myself were surprised to see what the Reunion pieces will sell for. Never really paid attention to the other Reunion pieces so I wasn't aware of their value.

Now we haven't decided what to do with our extra, we have never sold a Harbour Light. But believe me I have no qualms about paying $1 for a Depression glass dish at a garage sale & reselling it for $50 on Ebay. My selling glass at a good profit pays for some of my Harbour Lights addiction.

I am sure we will sell our extra piece in the future for a profit. It will offset some of our trips cost or looking at it another way pay for some of the earlier HLs that I still need to add at secondary market prices.

Donna

I hope some of the comments being made about free enterprize are not coming from ones who had a comment about some of us who bought more than one 5th Order Fresnel Lens to sell at a proffit (still a couple stashed, ordered 4 - 3.5 and 3rd Order Fresnel Lens)and were labeled as proffitiers. The point I was trying to make is that prior to the event some of us made a post and did not even here a word and based on some of the quantities of post I thought I there may have been some type of responce, not that we would'nt have paid a fair asking price, But I have to addmit the current asking prices are more than I can aford at this current time (would rather purchase that final piece of the Carolinas I dont have HL#102).Thank you, Fresnalhead.

Well, let me state something obvious -- and please don't take offense at this.

Your first post on these forums was to request that someone sell you a Hooper Strait Reunion Exclusive (presumably at cost.)

You're probably a great guy, but no one knows you here. There were pieces that were sold to Forum regulars at cost -- and a couple given away even (one to a collector's dealer!)

Yes, I guess that makes the Forums a bit clickish (sp?), but that's the way it gets with friends.

Now you've shown yourself to be a speculator -- of the 5th Order Fresnel. So you bought at cost and expect to sell at a higher rate?

But you expected that someone would sell you a Hooper Strait REXA at cost? (or at least at something below the market value)

Stick around, post in the Forums more, join us in a chat once in a while. We're really nice people, honestly. We'd love to have you as a WACKO and a friend.

John


[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 10-25-2001).]

[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 10-25-2001).]

Thanks for referring to Tim's past post, Jim. Guess I missed it the 2nd time around. Kinda strange as how some of what he said sorta sounded like what I said when I didn't even know Tim way back then!

As I stated previously I wasn't trying to start up any heated discussion but it has sort of turned out that way. Sorry.

If people have REXA EXTA's they can sell them for a buck, for a million or take them to their grave. I don't care. Hope those who want one get one if they are really hot for one.

"You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

Fresnalhead,
How about posting in the Marketplace that you want to trade one of your extra Fresnels for a Hooper. You'll probably get a hit, and you'll end up with a rarer and more valuable piece. The other person will be happy that they finally get a Fresnel lens they missed at retail, and couldn't afford on e-bay now. Most people will just trade their extra pieces for something they need, without really worrying about price differences all that much.

Rod, I hope you're right, but I don't see anyone making that kind of trade! I may be wrong, but I would gladly trade a lens for a Hooper Strait! Any takers?

I have been considering trading a Hooper for a Big Bay Point. It will be a straight across trade if I decide to offer it. Is anybody interested?

This topic is continued in "Rambling, Still".
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum1/HTML/001067.html