I recently purchased a light (fire Island) and it did not come with the Tent Card! I wrote back inquiring, and this was the response I received,
(I want to hear your take on this);

"Sorry for the delay in answering, we were away. Not all of the early edition lighthouses came with tent cards. Harbour Lights did not start making tent cards until late 1996. This light came out early in 1996. They did start making tent cards retroactively for the early lights and there is a form on the Harbour Lights website where you can request one of these cards. If you sign in and go to FAQs there is a question about the tent cards and a link for a form to request a card. THere is no charge for the card, byt the paperwork you received is what was issued at the time the light was produced."

That's exactly right about the early pieces. It's a lot simpler to just call 1-800-365-1219 and ask one of the ladies that answers if they can send you the tent card and COA for the piece that you want(no charge). There is also a complete set of tent cards available at a small charge(at least there used to be). I find the tent card a nuisance when I'm cleaning my curios and just store them with my COAs in a three ring binder.

Rich, What kind of sleeve do you use to store the COAs and tent cards?

Cyndi - I get them from Staples in a pack of 10 or 20 sheets. Each sheet holds 2 tent cards and COAs. The openings are 4" wide x 6" long so the COAs fit easily in a vertical position. I place the tent cards right in with the COAs. You can get many various sheet layouts but I think this is the best for a 3 ring binder.

I use 35mm slide storage 3 ring binder pages to store my tent cards. Each page holds 20 cards and if placed back to back, 40 cards. These pages can be purchased in a photography or stationary supply store. My COAs are stored in similar file pages as described by Rich.

Bill

Does anyone know if "FIRE ISLAND" originally came with a TENT CARD or not!

Does anyone have a TENT CARD for Fire Island?

Yes, I know how to obtain one, I'm just curious if you have one, and if one came with yours?

Probably most collectors have their Fire Island packed away like me, where it would be a two-hour job to find it. You may want to start a survey with Ebay and question the different Ebay sellers of the Fire Island and see if they have a Tent card.

This is how I get allot of my info I question the Ebay sellers.

I have a Fire Island tent card. I bought my Fire Island from another collector, so I don't remember if it came with it or I requested one from Harbour Lights.

As anal as we all are about our collection, and the knowledge that we're so proud to display here on the "collectors forum", I find it kinda funny that
I can't get the answer to this question!

Rusty, Daniel pointed out the situation many of us are in - we don't have room to display all of our collection. And, many of us don't display tent cards so this question is not as easy for many to answer as it would seem.

I have a tent card for Fire Island. It's one that HL produced, but I don't know if I requested it from HL or it was included with the piece, as I bought the sculpture from the secondary market.

Sandy

Dave, I certainly understand Dan's point! I am hoping, from the many others, here on the forum, would know the answer, or take the time to look! I figured a more reliable answer would come from here, rather than ebay!

To answer your question concerning Fire Island. Yes, it did come with a Tent Card in the orignal paperwork!!!

If it is true about the earlier pieces, which ones didn't have the tent cards?

how many more of you found the tent card with this light? And maybe even earlier pieces?

To me this is a hot topic! And, would seem to be for many of you wishing all the proper paperwork
with your valued collected lights!

I can see from your point that it might be a big question mark. From the standpoint that when you collect them all, started a long time ago and never displayed the tent cards with your pieces and have saved all paperwork, the good majority of us don't really know at what point in time they started with the tent cards. If you have a particular piece in mind other then Fire Island I can tell you if it came with a card, but other then that I would have to start an inventory to know what was the first piece that came with a card. If your not in a big hurry for it I can probably have it narrowed down some time this weekend.

My Fire Island (LE) came with a tent card. My Fire Island AP (OE) did not.

Way back when I wanted all the original paperwork with my HL's. Then when I was buying groups of HL's from other collectors, I stopped worrying about the paperwork. If it was there, fine. If it wasn't, fine.

Different strokes for different folks! Paperwork no longer mattered to me. Some people consider it a "must have". A recent sale of five HL's became a sale of four HL's because the COA was not in the box. That was fine with me. I was happy to sell those four.

Bob