I was checking eBay again this morning and noticing HL's availible at far below retail prices. I kept thinking to myself, "I would buy that in a heartbeat at that price if I didn't already have it."

A thought came into my not-yet-awake mind. Are HL's actually worth less now or have people just run out of money to spend on non-essential items?

Another thought crossed the gray matter: Why would anyone sell a piece that was worth $250 two years ago for $150 now when that same piece may be worth $250 again in the near future.

I guess what I'm trying to say is hold on to your HL's. Don't sell them low when you can earn a better return in a couple of years if you sell them then. I guess you have to have faith and believe. I believe this product is here to stay and will always be a source of enjoyment and a decent financial investment.

Bob

I don't think it is just Harbour Lights that are way down in value, it is all items people collect that are down. Check E-bay for Dept 56, Hess Trucks or Hallmark, hundreds of each are on E-bay at any one time and a great many items sell below the original cost. I have found that the only items selling for more than cost are the early production items of each line, for example, the 1991 Harbour Lights. There are exceptions, of course.

In my case the reason I am selling, at a loss in some cases ,is that after several years I have run out of space to display and store the Lighthouses. Also finding a place for all the boxes we must keep is very hard to do. My interests have also changed over the years and if I keep the lighthouses I have been to,I am happy. I have also bought duplicate lighthouse when I saw a sale or store closing. Maybe others like me, are trying to simplify their lives and romove extra items that require care and cleaning, from their homes.

They are the reasons I am selling and it's not a money thing. Since there are so many lighthouses out there, over 350 on E-bay now, I really don't think the market for Lighthouses, or any other items people collect will be going up any time soon, so I am acting now. I plan to spend the money on trips to see more real lighthouses.

I'm with you Bob. I'm always trying to sell extra lighthouses that I have so that I have money to buy the new editions. I don't plan on ever selling my collection and if I did I would not sell for less then I paid for it. When I went into collecting HL I decided then that no matter what happened with the secondary market I would keep them rather then take a loss. This is also my philosophy on my extra pieces. I won't give them away at less then what I paid so in some cases I'll have them until they disintregate or the market goes up which I also feel will happen in the near future.

Rich

They're worth what people are willing to pay for them. Is there another way to gauge this?

Thinking about Bunky Hunt and silver in the late 70's, here's an experiment, Bob, for you to try. Start buying up every single example of Portland Breakwater you can find. Try to acquire all 5500 of 'em - corner the market. Then see where the price goes. If the price goes really high, start trading them for Hilton Heads. Using this technique, circulate your way through several of the high-profile models and see if you can raise the entire market.

We'll capture the whole affair on your camcorder, and sell it to the Discovery Channel. Go into syndication. Buy Heceta Heads. Get your Masters in Sociology. Create a reality show on The American Lighthouse Collector.

Oh, And be sure to use a funny accent - it'll make it more believable.

[Bob in shorts, somewhere near the coast walking on slippery rocks]
Watch yer step heah.
[pointing]
Now there's some styro peanuts. You know what that means.
[pan to peanuts scattered in shadowy area]
Ooop. Lookey here - a tent card. Can't be far now.
[reaching hand into shadows]
Ahh Crikey - will you look at that one!
She's a beauty!! Lookat those colors.
[shoving Heceta Head into fish-eye lens]
But watch out! Hey. That lightning rod is sharp.
...

T

LOL...TIM! I'll be looking for a business manager and a booking agent. Would you be willing to take those positions for say 10% of the millions that will be coming in?

The fog must have cleared over the FSB's spy scope. I bought four more HL's yesterday. One of them was a HL 616 Rose Island 1998 Collector's Reunion Society Exclusive with flag # 128. It's brand new in the box and was found in a back room of a dealer. Never opened, never displayed, never used as a "kitty scratching post", never subjected to smoke or flames, and it was always above the high tide mark even at a moon tide. I also have it in writing that it was never used as a hood ornament on the FSB Zamboni. SUCH A DEAL!

I'm debating taking offers on it or maybe keeping it and selling the higher number I have in my collection. If anyone is interested, send me an email.

That's the word from the East Coast where the temperature is below zero, the wood stove is cranked, Lorna got a new Jeep this week, I bought a pickup truck too, and I'm now very broke.....It's Only Money!

Keep on trucking!

Bob

P.S. Dave? If you're listening could we have a word count on this one?

I know of a secondary market dealer who used to do something like that in the past (no longer in the secondary business).

At that time, the Collectibles Exchange was in business and had a listing of different HLs available at a range of prices.

This dealer would buy up most of the Ocracokes (for example) and then re-list one of them at a very high price with the Exchange.

This 'high priced' one would be pointed to as what they were 'going for' and 'how scarce' they were (only one listed) and the ones this dealer bought would be sold off for a profit, but less than the 'going price'.

Caveat Emptor.

Bob, I keep telling you, as much as I would like to be able to take credit, it is Saint Tim that believes your <5 word posts should be discounted from your total. I keep getting blamed for it.

I will say that when you try to make up for that multitude of extremely short posts you do certainly go at it with gusto {or is that you go overboard?}

At your request, I pulled the message into Word and let it do the dirty work - the results:

In the main message, 1,071 characters {including spaces, 864 without}, 203 words. Smiley faces don't count {and should be completely banned}, add 1 word for signature, and a total of 14 for the p.s., and you come up with 218. By the way, since you failed to insert any spaces into your opening "LOL...TIM!" this counts as only one word.

Your humble servant,

Bubba

(1) Thank (2) you (3) so (4) much (5) Dave! (6) Or (7) should (8) I (9) say (10) Tim?

(11) Bob

To bring it back to ground. It seems that the older HL's are going up and the new one are going at cost (Dealer price). It seems that there are a number of dealer trying to stay alive. That is the case around here. I buy all my new pieces from a dealer for the register and win For the older retired pieces I try to look for a deal and a someone I can trust. Sometimes they don't match so I will go for trust. The market will come back and the price too.

IMHO
Chuck

What's this register & win? Is it a dealer-specific program as none of the dealers I've been to seem to have anything on it? Thanks.

The Register and Win Contest is sponsored by HL. Send in copies to Harbour Lights of dealer receipts for all full sized pieces purchased between Jan 1 and March 31 of this year.
Each lighthouse receipt gets you one entry. Prizes generally include AP's, trips and the chance to choose a lighthouse for HL to produce.

Do you belong to the Collectors Society? If so you should have read about this contest in the last Legacy.

is it my imagination, or are pieces on e-bay starting to go up in value again?

is it my imagination, or are pieces on e-bay starting to go up in value again?

It's not your imagination, Plebetkin. Dealer dumping was prevelant the last part of last year, but suddenly those really low-priced bargains are starting to disappear.

The minimum bids have increased as well as reserve pricing. Couple that with high handling, shipping and insurance fees, you will not find that many steals anymore.

This is good for dealers but not so good for someone with a limited budget and a strong desire to build up his or her HL collection for short money.

It is my sincere wish that Harbour Lights will return to the days where you hunted your pieces down at official HL Dealers at retail pricing. On-line auction pieces would go for retail or above. Pieces listed in the New Marketplace would be closer to retail or above would also strengthen the values of our collections. Right now just the opposite is happening.

People will go with the flow until the tide starts to rise again.

Bob

I agree, Bob. I can remember when you could go to ebay and see 5-7 pages of HL's for sale. Lately, its been running less than a full page. I guess its like a "pendullum"....the market-swings are just a natural part of the commodity being offered.

on e-bay, there are consistently over 350 HLs for sale. The problem is that there is a lot of misrepresentation either by lack of knowledge (people brokering for others) or by those who want to cover defects/problems to raise the "value" and bid of their pieces