We've had threads in the past trying to determine when production was shifted to Malaysia and when rods disappeared and when the year was changed from 1868 to 1868.

I've reviewed the threads and made up a table reflecting the answers by 37 CF members, past and present.



I've added an asterisk by Fred's #2 listing. It's country and year seems out of synch. It may be the edition number is wrong. Fred's #101 was probably made in California. Certainly Dick Johnson's #78 was from California.

If you already answered and your name is shown, but your listing is missing the country or year 1863/1868, please post that information below.

If you have not participated in the past, you can now.

Tell us:

1. Edition #
2. Lightning Rod - Yes or No
3. Country of Origin
4. Year incised above the door - below the lantern room 1863/1868

OK John. Here they are:

Great Captain Island

Edition# Lightning Rod Birth Place Year

119 Yes California 1863
609 Yes Canada 1863
1681 Yes Malaysia 1863
2473 No Malaysia 1868
4029 No Malaysia 1863

I should have also said...

If any of you would prefer not to post your results but to have them included, you can email me webmaster@lighthousekeepers.com. Please make the subject Great Captains Island

If you don't want your name attached to the pieces you own, say so and I'll assign a code name instead.

John
I have three more Great Captains Island since that pole was taken.

One California
Two Canadians
And still the one Malaysian, But I gave you the wrong number for over the door. I used a magnifying glass this time and it is not 1868 it is 1863. I bet I was not the only one to get this number wrong.


My one Canadian is number 513 and also has 1863 over the door. It does not have a rod. It looks like it has a hole that was filled in by paint. It looks like the rod wasn't put in at the factory. I know it wasn’t touched up for I bought it off of the original owner.

My other Canadian is in storage. I don't have number handy but it has rod and the number 1863.

My California is in front of me and has number #149 and has the number 1863 over the door.
I can share with everyone how I know it is a California mold.
The California Great Captain Island does not have a collar under the ventilator ball and
all the windows and doors are punched in very deep. The low number is also a good indicator but not an absolute.

OPPS
I don't have a 1868 version

Thanks Bob & Daniel.

Daniel - does the #513 have the collar and more detailed windows?

You'll recall that when production was shifted to Canada, Castle Sudios first cast some pieces from the California molds, then modified them with the more detailed windows and the ventilator ball 'collars'.

What we're moving towards here is being able to pinpoint more closely when production was shifted from Canada to Malaysia -- somewhere between #149 and #1648. If JJ and Sean check in we can narrow that down more closely.

My Canadian #1107 has the collar.

My 513 is also in storage but I had some of the info written down. I am gradually getting my lights out of storage and will probably have it out in the next couple of months. Then I can check the collar. Its not to hard to have collectors help track down the production numbers of Canadian verses Malaysian but it is next to impossible to identify a California to a Canadian unless you know what to look for or better yet have a Malylasian or Canadian to compare with.

You are right John there are many Hybrids of California/Canadians. Identify California’s are not as easy as identify Canadians. It is easy to mix the two especially since the Canadian factory did the biggest mix of all.

Here are some photos of a Canadian "revised" piece showing:

The "Collar" added below the ventilator ball:


The 1863 year:


The 'improved' doors and windows with more detail:


If you have a Canadian piece, please indicated if it has these "revised" features or if it is missing the collar and the windows and door are less detailed in appearance.

#796 has a rod, is Canadian-made, has 1863 above the door, does not have a collar, and its windows and door are detailed as shown in the picture, but their color is gray, not black and is not as heavy.

#5236 does not have a rod, is Malaysian-made, has 1868 above the door, does not have a collar, and its windows and door are similar to the Canadian-made one.

Guess I need to ask ALL respondents to let us know about the collar and doors/windows. Looks like another mold change happened either in Canada after 1107 or in Malaysia.

John not all collars are going to be as sharp as the collar you are showing. Your Great Captain probably was made from the first pulls from the mold. As the mold is used more and more the features are not as crisp. My Malaysian doesn’t even have a collar as crisp as yours. I am still leaning towards Sandy’s Captain Island having a collar but just isn’t crisp enough to show as well as the picture you posted.

Sandy can you post a picture of your collar?

Don't know how it happened, but when I was replying, I somehow saw the collar in my mind's recall of the picture John showed as being beneath the cap--between the cap and the tower, not beneath the ventilator ball. It's too dark now to get a good picture, so I'll provide shots of both pieces tomorrow, but both pieces do, in fact, have the collar identical to the one shown in John's picture. There is, however, a great variance in the colors of each piece--the Canadian-made one is much brighter; the Malaysian-made one is washed out, even the base looks anemic.

Just looked at my Great Captain Island.

Edition #3756
No Lightning Rod
Country Malaysia
Year above Door 1863

The bricks on mine are much lighter than the pictures you showed. I really liked the color
shown in the pictures much better.
Does anybody know if the ones made in Malaysia all have light colored bricks?

Mine does have a collar beneath the ventilator ball.

Sandy you aready answered my question.

More data-

# 2463
Malaysia
no rod
collar
1863

Dan

Again, my apologies for not paying attention!!







Close-up of ventilator ball(s) not as clear as I'd like it, but "collar" is evident on both pieces.

MJ and I have two HL114, Great Captain Island, pieces in our collection. They are edition numbers 17 and 1888 and are markedly different. We purchased number 1888 when we first started collecting in 1993 and have the original box. We were able to get number 17 years later when we learned of a woman liquidating her collection. She could not find the box for it

Edition Number 17
Lightning Rod - YES
Country of Origin - CANADA?? NOT SURE (no country sticker or box)
Year above the Door - 1863
Variations Observed:
•Rocks are mostly gray
•Shrubs green with red
•NO collar under vent ball
•Colors are lighter
•Bricks multicolored
•Date has paint in impression

Edition Number 1888
Lightning Rod - NO
Country of Origin - MALAYSIA
Year above the Door - 1863
Variations Observed:
•Rocks are gray & brown
•Shrubs green with blue
•Collar under vent ball
•Colors are darker
•Bricks more monotone
•NO paint in date, just the impression

Here are four images so you can see what we are talking about.






Ron & MJ

The Great Captain #17 is a California made mold. Note there is no collar under the ventilator and the main door has large recess panels that are wider than they are high. The Canadian and Malaysian are the opposite. Most likely it has the typical Canadian Green flocking that is set back about a 1/8” from the edge, but did not come with a Canadian sticker. The standard box would have been the brown one with castle studios written on it. If it has this type of felt it is a California made mold that was shipped to Canada for its felt and box and then sent to the dealers.

Just added one of these to my collection.

Here's my info:

1. Edition # = 3855
2. Lightning Rod - No
3. Country of Origin = Malaysia
4. Year incised above the door = 1868

If John is still keeping track of these, Fred's 101 is probably a hybrid piece - CA mold and possibly painted, but shipped from Canada. No made in Canada sticker, but did have the Castle Studio stamp addedd to the brown box.

The second piece was # 3371. Looks like the first 3 was dropped in translation.

#109 Californian mold and finished in Canada. Has lightning rod. No collar. 1863

#366 Canadian. Has lightning rod. Has collar. 1863

My inventory sheet lists two HL 114, Great Captains with flag #2442 and flag #4194. With those flag#'s they should be Malaysian made. I do believe I have another with a rod some where in my stock but it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There's just too many HL boxes to search through to find the answer.

Bob

My Great Captain:

Edition - #5101
Lightning Rod - No
Country of Origin - Malaysia
Year Above Door - 1868

Bob, you need a shipping container in your back yard dedicated to HLs so you can free up some space in your basement! ...hee hee

For some reason, I don't think the neighbors would appreciate having it in view.

I'm fortunate to have a very dry basement and never had any water problems since I moved in in 1975. My problem in locating certain HL's is the fact they are stacked from the floor to the ceiling in a large closet and in my boiler room. That means to find a piece requires me to start to empty these areas until I find the one I'm looking for.

I sold five HL's last week, and it took me about an hour and one-half to find all five. For some odd reason (Murphy's Law), it always seems the ones I'm trying to find are always way in the back of the pile. Unfortunately, my inventory is large (over 700), and my record keeping leaves something to be desired. That all happend when I was buying groups of HL's and forgetting to log them in on the inventory. I know I have them, then the search is on!

Bob