Just want to remind everyone of the St. Augustine Lighthouse Festival on March 16. Admission is free that day to the museum and tower.

Joanne
http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/calendar/index.html#budlight

Will we be able to bring some of our pieces to have Bill sign them like at the old in-store events or will they restrict us and only allow purchases from that day? Also, will the Mark Twain in-store event piece be available at this event? I hope the Old St. Augustine piece will be there.

Rich

Rich
You will have no problem taking your Harbour lights to be signed. I had 12 signed last year.
This is a store event. A very very big store event, that is on the same day as the Lighthouse festible. Good timing wouldn’t you say. I hope Harbour lights does more lighthouse related signings in the future. It is only the regional that you are restricted by a signing voucher. And I think the signing voucher turned into a drawing for the regional event Gold.

Even though most stores ask for a two per person signing. I have always found that I can get a lot more signed if I just be patient. Wait until the crowd dies down and make several trips so that I don’t over whelm them with to many at once.

I checked with customer service and the Old St Augustine isn’t going to ship until end of March. It looks like it will be to late for us auto-shipment people to take our low-number pieces to be signed. I bet you they will have the Old St Augustine there, even if Bill and Nancy have to rent a U-Haul and deliver it themselves.

Daniel




[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited 02-15-2002).]

Thanks Danial! I'm so use to going to the signings at Edgewater Treasures or Prestige in Jacksonville that I got to wondering if we would be able to take several to St. Augustine. I knew Vera at Edgewater and Prem at Prestige so I never gave that a thought about bringing 8-10 pieces to be signed. I didn't go last year because of work but plan on it this year. I did'nt want to be embarassed by being declined. I was sorta hoping that the Old St. Augustine whould have been received at my regular dealer so it could also be signed but such is life. Was it crowded right at the beginning last year or during the later part of the signing?

Rich

It is a little different this time. At The Last St Augustine lighthouse, signing Bill was there officially from 8:00 to 4:00. We started at 8:00 with a breakfast with Bill, where Bill talked for a ½ hour and then we all pilled in for the signing. This was held in the second floor of the keepers house. Then around 10 the signing moved out to the porch of the Museum. Bill kept busy most of the day signing but there was times when he was all alone. Then at 4:00, we went for the intercoastal water cruise with Bill.

This Year It looks like it is just a normal signing from 10:00 to 2:00. I think it is less crowded in the mornings than the afternoons. For 7,000 people at this place, it is not to bad. I plan to be there at 10:00.

See ya there Rich.

Daniel

I am trying to make it down there again. If everything goes as planned I will arrive on Thursday or Friday evening and depart on Saturday afternoon after Bill departs. If I get there Thursday evening I will be heading South Friday morning to photograph Ponce and then swing by Fort Matanzas on the way back. Anybody going to be in town Friday evening to catch some dinner and perhaps a Ghost Tour?

Sean


[This message has been edited by SThompson (edited 02-16-2002).]

Thanks for the info. I'll be there with a bag of goodies. One of the pieces that I just found on the Marketplace was a Assateaque Mold 1 that I want to get signed. Slowly but surely I'm getting the hard to find pieces.

Rich

The latest on the St Augustine signing event for tomorrow is:

There will be no Breakfast with Bill as posted on the Harbour light's web page.

The lighthouses opens at 9:00 and there will be free entry of the lighthouse and the museum.

Bill signing starts at 11 AM and ends at 3:00 pm

Harbour Cruise with Bill at 4:00 PM (RSVP only)

Daniel



[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited 03-15-2002).]

Sounds like alot of fun! Wish we could make it. I hope someone will give all of us "non-attendees" an update after all the fun tomorrow! (Pictures would also be nice!)

[This message has been edited by Randy Kremer (edited 03-15-2002).]

Fellow Forumites attending the event in St. Augustine....Take some photos and post them here! (Please!)

Bob

It was a perfect Florida spring day for the St Augustine lighthouse festable. Sunny and 80 degrees. Bill kept busy with a constant line of people from 11:00 to 3:00. The estimated expected amount of people for that event was 10,000. I feel that it was the same as last year 7,000. I noticed that most collectors only had a few lighthouses to sign and hardly any of the 5500’s. But one collector brought in 12 of the early lighthouses to be signed and an other bought 49 lighthouses from the lighthouse store and paid over $4,000.

Two Hundred of the Old St Augustine lighthouse day viewed today. The local rep told me that he even has not seen them until today. Some facts about the Old St Augustine Lighthouse. It was originally built by the Spaniards in 1824 as a watchtower. Later on when it was taken over by US, the watchtower was converted to a lighthouse and 55 feet was added to the tower. The Old St Augustine lighthouse was made of a concrete mix using seashells, just like all of the other early structures there. It wash into the sea in the late 1800’s. and parts of the tower can still be seen at low tide.

The figurine is not actually as the real one. Harbour Lights designed a low wall around the lighthouse, but in real life, the walls were as high as the roof. Bill said this was done so that it could be reached with a paintbrush. I feel that it is a better-looking piece with the low walls.

I did not go on the cruise with Bill this time. You had to purchase both fresnel lenses, the Old St Augustine and the event piece to qualify for the free trip. Since I already have an auto shipment with an other dealer, I did not purchase any of these from St Augustine.

I did pick up a neat sticker for My Old St Augustine, Florida (OSAF). For those that had pre-purchased their lighthouse got a little sticker that says “ A day with Bill, old St Augustine, Florida Harbour Lights March 16, 2002”. Bill signed the sticker and it was set-aside for the pre-ordered OSAF.
I got Bill to sign one for me and I will stick this on mine when it arrives. People that purchased the OSAF at St Augustine didn’t get the sticker. Probably only a couple of handful of collectors will have an OSAF with the special sticker.


Daniel

Thanks for the report, Daniel. Kind of a steep admission price for the cruise, but it probably helped their sales of the lenses! (They must be getting a sizeable allocation if they required the purchase for the boat ride.) Wonder if the person who bought the 49 HLs got to go??

Are you saying there were 200 of the new pieces there? Did they all sell out? Sounds like maybe they had some of them air shipped so they would have some for the event. Congrats on your special sticker.

Hopfully someone got a few pictures and will be able to share with us. Did you see any other Connected Collectors while you were there?

Dave

Dave

The Harbour Cruise only had enough room for 60 people and this requirement was met. Yes; I totally agree about the price being too high. Both fresnel lens sold out. There was 34 of the Clamshell available and 40 of the Beehive. These were all pre-ordered. There was still a few Old Augustine’s left at 3:00. The total allotment for the St Augustine Museum store to sell was 200. This was including pre-ordered and those that was sold on the site.

The Tampa Bay club was there. I didn’t see anyone with a waco badge or a I am connected badge. I wish more Waco’s would wear them.

I did asked Bill how much the Golden event peice would cost if they were sold like a regular limited edition of say 4,000. Would anybody like to take a guess?

Daniel

Bill said nobody knows for sure but one sold for $6000.Bill O'Brien No one this year got a picyure of BY with the keepers hat

Thanks for the update Daniel! Sounds like a really big crowd and everyone had a good time. Does this mean that the lenses are on the way to all of us? How about the St. Augustine piece?

I hope so!

Yeah, Like Daniel said, the Tampa bay Club was there. Most of us had on our Yellow (butter) colored shirts. We gave Bill one of our new name badges. I would have worn my Wacko badge if it had come in time for me to wear it to St Augie, however it did not arrive until Saturday afternoon.

Randy
The fresnel lens are not out yet.
All you could do with the Fresnel lens is order one. There were none on display yet.
I went to Jacksonville signing today and They had the old ST Augustine also. Its my understanding that the Old St Augustine will start shipping the end of this month to the rest of the stores.

Daniel

But I assume they got their lighthouse signed? And the stickers were for those who showed up but ordered their pieces from another dealer?

Wasn't there another event once where the pieces sold at the event featured a similar sticker on those pieces? Folks who purchased the piece elsewhere didn't get a sticker? Tybee relighting, Tybee GLOW maybe?

Sapelo

Yes Sue - Tybee Relighting, Tybee GLOW as well as Sapelo rededication.

Wasn't there a special sticker at Cape Hatteras relighting? On the CH On the Move piece?

No... on the special sticker at Hatteras, yes on the other two..

Cape Hatteras was a special signature that the light was signed that day.

Dave

Did anyone get any pictures of the old St. Augustine piece?? if so post them here, lets see it! Were there pieces that were sold (to take home that day) at the event or just a display piece?

Update: I see that the Bronze Lady web site has a picture http://www.bronzelady.com/HarbourLights/HARBOUR.HTM

[This message has been edited by Mark Wagner (edited 03-24-2002).]

Mark
Yes, You could buy the Old St Augustine there and take it home. I didn’t take any pictures of it. I probably should have taken pictures of the original model displayed at the Lighthouse Museum. They had the AP there too. The St Augustine Museum is planning on a Harbour Lights display. They have been collecting some of the lighthouse over the years and the Old St Augustine AP will be a part of it.

Mombo
At The Sapelo rededication, you could get the special sticker for Sapelo Island, St Simons (glow), Cockspur Island, and the Tybee Glow.

The big difference with the old St Augustine sticker is that it was only for those that pre-ordered. The sticker wasn’t put on the Lighthouses that were sold that day.
I only saw about twenty that Bill had signed.

Daniel

I pre-ordered my clamshell lens but haven't gotten it yet. If anyone else ordered it from St. Augustine - I couldn't go that day had to work - the lens' won't be shipped until the middle of April.

Joanne