I probably own a couple dozen LLOM. I also own a complete collection of Harbour Lights LE's. The LLOM will not effect my purchasing of future LE's especially since I'm on autoship.

Ponder these thoughts a bit: You've been thinking about collecting lighthouse replicas and heard that HL's are the best. You visit their web site looking for dealers in your area. You find out that there are more dealers selling LLOM than there are dealers offering the more expensive limited editions. You go to the dealers and admire what they have to offer. Your collectable purchasing power is limited and you realize you can buy four or more LLOM for the price of one LE. Being new to collecting you are not really concerned about any future value. You're buying because you like them.

Now what will that new collector do, in your opinion? I would say he or she buys the LLOM. Once they get hooked on them, they will stay with that size replica thereby reducing their desire to move up to the LE's.

I can forsee many potential new HL LE collectors lost to the LLOM. They're well done, inexpensive, easy to display because they're small, and no worry about needing lots of room to store boxes and styrofoam inserts. If such a crossover gained momentum in the future, would this be the death knell of collecting LE's?

Inquiring minds on the East Coast, where it's a balmy 50 degrees at 0442 hours and there is a threat of rain for today's Patriots vs Browns game at Gillette Stadium, would like to know your feelings about what is stated above.

Bob

Good morning Bob.

I don't think that the LLOM will cut into the LE's in a big way. I think they're designed to be souvenir ware. Great souvenir ware, but aimed at the visitors to lighthouses and the like. As you know I collect the New England Lights mainly (I have them all), with others thrown in that I especially like. I also have all of the New England LLOM, most of the New York and others from FLorida to California. THey don't replace the LE's in my collection and never will, but I do like them. In my case they don't save room as I had to buy another curio to display them.

Bert

Bob,

I think that the LLOM will have a small effect on new Collectors.

There are a great many of them and though they are easier to obtain and are cheaper than the LE's the number of them available could have the same effect on someone as the difficulty and cost of obtaining a collection of the LE's.

I think that the LLOM will attract the person who wants to ahve a few Lighthouses and wants them to look the best.

I actually think that the LLOM can have more of an effect on the person who has run out of either room or money for their LE collection. It's a way of getting more bang for your buch and for your space.

Bottom line - I think the maturity of the LE line has more of an overbearing effect on discouraging new collectors than the availability of the LLOM product line.

Dennis

I think that a new collector will buy what their budget, space and interest will allow them to buy.
GLOWS might interest them for the larger size and detail, LLOM might get them for the smaller size and price and LEs might get them for the collectibility and larger size. Any way that you slice it Harbour Lights and the collector is a winner. Eventually though, the new collector will probably come to the limited edition when they realizes that investment wise (over the long haul)they are loosing money by buying LLOM and GLOWS.

I collect LLOMs. Though I admire and drool over the LEs, I then come to the realization that, "I could never afford to collect these!". So I get the LLOM.

The thing I like about LLOMs is they are open. This allows an on-and-off collector such as myself to be able to collect the lights I like or have seen when I want, at the same price as when first introduced, without paying inflated retired LE prices. Therefore, I can buy the Boon Island LLOM in 2 years when I have seen Boon Island, buy it as a current piece, and not pay the price for the by-then-2-years-retired LE. (Note: I don't know if there even is a Boon LLOM, just an example). Instead of spending around $150 for a larger light, I can spend $15-20 for a small one that fits more places, that I have to worry about less, and that I can always get a replacement for.

Also, as said previously, LLOMs are great for starting kids out on lighthouses. Would you buy your 5 year old child or grandchild a $65-80 LE to get them started? I DON'T THINK SO. Hey, look-there's the lantern-and there's the door! GASP! It was a double digit!!!

And of course, there are always those who are dedicated to LEs, and wouldn't buy an LLOM or GLOW if their life depended on it.

I think the main factor that may be cutting into the LE sales, by established collectors, is the number of new limited pieces introduced each year.
How many people really have the room for 25 new ones each year????

I have no where near to a complete collection and I'm out of room now with a few new pieces still in their boxes in a closet. And I have no place to put the Christmas pieces this year. I have no place left in the house for display cabinets and don't plan on buying a larger home just for lighthouses. Rotating pieces is just too much of a hassle.

I like the LLOM's and have a small curio's worth of them and ornaments. They are certainly easier to display. If they had been available when I first became aware of HL I can't say that I might not have been attracted to purchase them rather than the LE's. Since I don't have any of the older, more valuable pieces, I doubt that the value of my LE collection has increased over the years. If anything it's decreased.

Given the state of the collectible market, what is the real advantage to purchasing LE's?

Seagirt,

You scared the he-- out of me. I thought I missed getting the Boon Island LLOM. No, there isn't one YET, but I'm sure it's on the horizon. Hopefully closer than we think. I like your philosophy, it makes sense.

Bert

I think that the LLOM line will have an adverse effect on the sales of the LE's. To what extent is hard to say, but after thinking about it for a while, I believe that LLOM's would be in my curio instead of the LE's if they had been available when I started my collection.

Bob hit the nail on the head in his post when he said "They're well done, inexpensive, easy to display because they're small, and no worry about needing lots of room to store boxes and styrofoam inserts".

I also agree with Sue about the sale of LE's being hurt by too many releases each year. I am sure this has an effect on a number of collectors. It did for me as I became overwhelmed trying to get them all and became discourged when it became impossible for me to do that.

-Todd

Funny you should ask this Bob, but myself and a few other collectors I know were talking a few days ago and a couple of us were seriously considering chunking future LEs and only collecting LLOM.

Robert and I collect the LE's of the lights we have visited. And, maybe a few event pieces and/or some Christmas pieces, which I display only during the holiday season. There are many LE's that are hard to find, and too expensive. Now that I am retired, and Robert will be in a few years, trying to pay the big bucks for the pieces we need is not in our budget. So, we have been contemplating picking up the LLOM of the ones that we can't get, or are not available in LE's. That way we will have more room to place them. We do have some GLOW's, like Hatteras.

Joyce

Although I mostly collect LEs, I have a few LLOM of Lights that I don't think Harbour Lights will make as a LE. Charlevoix, MI is a good example. If the LE and LLOM exist at the same time, I'll get the LE.

Let's look at LLOM in a different light. If they sell like popcorn due to their small size and low price, then Younger & Associates income from these sales can enable the company to produce fewer Limited Editions and have smaller edition sizes.

Yes, there are some LE collectors who have run out of space and/or budget, but I suspect the majority of LLOM are being bought up by tourists and locals who had never heard of "Harbour Lights" prior to making their first LLOM purchase.

I am in total agreement with you John. I hope they sell like popcorn and that HL can have smaller addtion size. IMHO that's the only way that LE's would appreciate in value. Too much supply and no demand adds up to lower values.

In other cases there are a few LLOM's that HL has made that have not yet come out as LE's and I have them. Watch HIll Rhode Island is a good example.


Bert

If I were starting a collection, and knowing what I know now, I probably would collect the LLOMs. The detail on them is very good, you can buy 4 or 5 of them for the price of one LE and the biggest thing is you can display a lot more of them. I've run out of room and have close to 100 pieces put away in boxes.

Dan