I had a question about thumbnails and decided that perhaps it would be easier to just post a short history of these very cool little lighthouses.

Thumbnails are the smallest of the HL lighthouse replicas. They received their name because they are not much taller than your thumbnails - about an inch. I have seen pictures of them on a person's thumbnail or more often, posed in front of a penny to give a size comparison. The detail in these lights is incredible. If you know your lights you can identify each of the thumbnails that have been created when you see them.

The initial introduction was at the first Collectors Reunion in San Diego in 1997. They were presented to the participants at various times during the reunion. The first set included 4 of the best known lights on the east coast: Cape Hatteras, Assateague, Saint Simons and Sandy Hook. Over the next couple of years Bill used the 'left-overs' to give as a special treat to people at signing events. Those 'people' usually were kids - don't you wonder how many adult collectors sent their kids up to ask Bill for a thumbnail? ABout 2,000 of each thumbnail were made.

The process repeated at the Providence reunion in 1998. Lights that time were located in the vicinity of the event: Beavertail, Southeast Block, Point Judith and Rose Island. Rose Island was also the 'featured' light for the reunion, and this started a trend to include a thumbnail of the reunion exclusive. Again the extras were given as special gifts to people at signing events. About 1,500 copies of each thumbnail were produced.

The third set of 4 came at the Baltimore reunion in 2001, again representing lights in the vicinity of the event. Lights featured were Sandy Point Shoal, Craighill Channel Upper Front Range, Craighill Channel Lower Front Range and Hooper Strait (also the reunion exclusive piece). However, this time there was a twist with a fifth thumbnail, Hereford Inlet, being included in the package of the Hooper Strait version available to all Collectors Society members. Don't know that there were any (or many) extras of this set of thumbnails to be used at signing events. The numbers manufactured keep coming down - this time to a production of about 850 each.

At this point we see another new twist in thumbnails. Starting in 2003, a special thumbnail version of the signing event piece was introduced. So far we have seen:
2003 - St. Clair Channel MI
2004 - Three Sisters, MA
2005 - Fourteen Foot Bank, DE
2006 - El Moro, PR

Last year at the Mackinac Island Reunion I had a little input in what Harbour Lights products were to be used. Patty and I decided to take things to a new level and chose to have a total of 9 thumbnails. 4 were given to participants at various times during the event. 5 were placed in a special tin and were left in their rooms while participants were at dinner the final night.

Old Mackinac Point, Round Island, St. Helena and Waugoshance (also the Reunion exclusive). White Shoal, Spectacle Reef, Grays Reef, 14 Foot Shoal and Poe Reef were included in the tin. A total of 450 were made of each, except for Waugoshance and St. Helena - I had extras made of them to give to their respective societies to give to their volunteers.

A partial, out-dated list of thumbnails thru 2001

Thumbnails don't show up for sale too often. Most who received the reunion sets hold onto them as mementoes of the events. Sometimes a person may sell off the spouse's set of thumbnails (if they can get the spouse to turn loose of them.)

There are still a few chances to get one of the 2006 El Moro thumbnails. Check the signing event schedule to see if there is a signing event close to you.

I'm sure I have left out some fact or detail and that someone will be along to correct that. Otherwise, this concludes session 1 of thumbnail 101.

Thanks for the lesson/history Dave.
HCS

I have recieved two with HL's I have ordered from my dealer. There are not any signings close to where I live and have not been able to attend any. I would love to be able to get more of them, but I can understand why everyone wants to hang onto them.
Thanks for the history Dave. I really did not know much about them until I started reading about them on the forums.

Thanks for the lesson Dave! I think you did a good job of explaining them to us.

The full set of thumbnails are on the top shelf in this image..

Second shelf are spyglass size...

Paul,
You are one of the lucky ones who has them all.
We new collectors are not so fortunate.
HCS

I have the complete collection but I didn't acquire a lot of them until this past year. I purchased them from other forums members and from eBay - the latter were a little pricey but worth it to me! I'll have to post a picture of how I display mine - one of these days!

Yes please Grace! We would love to see your collection!
We - of course - have NO CHANCE of getting the Thumbnails the 'kosher' way. Shame really, they look like a collection worth having.

But, we are happy with LLs. Just got 15 of them on eBay and they are what the English call SMASHING !

The detail is fantastic and we are seriously looking for more of the LLs!

Generally the Thumbnails go from $25 to $50 each. $32 to $42 is the norm.
The older reunion thumbnails go for the most.
Some have even gone almost as high as $100 on ebay like the more popular ones, Cape Hatteras and Assateague.
If you want to start collecting them go for the sets, they are cheaper.
Usually the reunion sets of 4 go for $100 to $150 ($135 being norm) if you can find one.

The Hereford would be the cheapest ($15 to $25) since there were more of these produced and anyone can get one if they purchase the Collectors Hooper Strait.

Don’t loose heart, keep your eyes and ears open. It is not unheard of to find a reunion thumbnail for under $25

You da man with tracking these things, Daniel. However, my logic says that these thumbnails, while having the greatest production, are well-distributed. No one would have an 'extra'. Some might have missed it in the Hooper Strait Box, perhaps, and perhaps some who bought the Hooper Strait Society version might be willing to dispose of it.

With the Reunion versions, extras would be in the hands of families who attended (and paid). As for the ones Bill gave out of the In-Store Event Exclusives, these might be the easiest to find because it just might be possible to talk Bill out of "one for my wife and four more for the kids who couldn't make it"?!?

This year Harbour Lights had 2,500 of the El Morro thumbnails made. I cannot imagine that anywhere near half of those will have been given out at the very limited number of in-store events.

Two thumbnails on ebay went for what I said they would


Hereford inlet NJ Thumbnail on ebay for $15.50


El Morro Puerto Rico Thumbnail on ebay for $26

At this time these two are probably the cheapest thumbnails you are going to find. Many of the Hereford inlet thumbnails are in boxes with the Hooper Strait and collectors will want another one to keep with their thumbnail collection. I know I purchased another Hereford so I could do that.
As John said there may not be very many extras of the Hereford since it came with the Hooper Strait. The Hereford thumbnail just has entered the realm of ebay the past two years.
Most of the Hereford thumbnails that have been on ebay are from ebayers that have bought up stores inventories and have taken the thumbnail out of the Hooper Strait box and has sold it separately. If it wasn't for that I doubt that we would see any.

What other thumbnail came in the boxes with HL's?
That is where I recieved the two thumbnails that I do have is with my HL's. At the time I did not know what they were, but because they were so small I put them in my curio so they would not get lost.

That's it.
However once in a while collectors would find them with their Limited Edition lighthouse.

Which two?

I was just taking a closer look, and both of my thumbnail lighthouses are the same. They are Fourteen Foot Bank. I know one of them came with my Fourteen Foot Bank that is signed by Bill, Nancy and Kim. I ordered it last year before the first signing in Maine and had them hold it until the second signing to get all three signatures. The other one came with one of the other LE's I had ordered earlier in the year, but I don't remember which one.

Cyndi,
Those thumbnails were probably sent to you by your dealer who had a signing and was lucky to have the extras, and most lucky sent them to you. My guess is you got them from Lighthouse Depot?
Bob

I did get them from Lighthouse Depot. The first one I did not know what it was and left it in the box. When I got the second one, I remembered the first one and dug through my boxes to find the other one. At the time I still did not know what they were but did not want them to get lost. I really did not know they were the same until I looked at them to see which lighthouses they were. When I joined Collectors Forums started reading the posts, that is when I found out that they were thumbnail lighthouses. I had read about them on the Harbour Lights website but did not know I had any.

I just got three of these last Saturday from the Bill signing event at Hands of Time. However, I didn't win the gold.

Assateague Harbour Lights Thumbnail Lighthouse on ebay for $36

This is in the normal range for a reunion thumbnail. But since Assateaque seems to be one of the more popular thumbnails,
this is probably a bargain.

Old Mackinac MI Lighthouse Thumbnail-went for $20.50 on ebay

Waugoshance MI Lighthouse Thumbnail went for $31.51 on ebay

Three Sisters MA Lighthouse Thumbnail went for $39.30 on ebay

St Helena MI Thumbnail Lighthouse went on ebay for $91

Round Island MI Thumbnail Lighthouse went on ebay for $91

Daniel,
What makes some of the thumbnails go for such a high price? I would like to build my thumbnail collection but $91.00 is a little steep for my pocketbook. I can see the collections going for more, because you rarely see a whole collection listed on e-bay. But why such the wide difference in the individual pieces? $15 to $91 is a big difference.

The 2005 reunion are the rarest of thumbnails made with only 450 made of each. Collectors are starting to realize that these thumbnails are harder to find than the older ones that had a production of 850 to 2000, which usually goes for around $32.
The one that goes for $15 is the Hereford and at this time it is cheapest because most collectors got one with their Collectors Hooper Strait.

Any Harbour Light with a production of 500 of less will demand a good secondary market.

I can't believe the price of thumbnails today. What has made the price of these take off. I tryed for some recently and could not keep up. Is it possible all the talk here has caused an increase in demand?

Right on.

yes, definitely

I would say so! Some of us "newer" collectors didn't even know they existed until we read it here! Quite possibly those that visit and don't join the forum, have also been educated.
Then again there are collectors that couldn't make the reunion (2005) and this is the only way to get them?

In actuality there are only a little over 400 sets of thumbnails from the 2005 reunion out there in general circulation. A few sets were given to non-collector type folks who helped me with various aspects of the reunion. I donated one set to NELL for auction and auctioned a set as part of a larger reunion items package at the Portland regional.

Well, I for one, have certainly been educated thanks to Dave and many others...
I had asked about the thumbnails and then...low and behold, this thread and alot of other discussion came from it. I began looking for thumbnails and I can say that I am still looking for a few of them but also spent some $$ on some as well. They really are quite unique and definately a conversation starter...

Still needed are:
The 2005 set
2003 - HL664 St. Clair
2005 - HL677 THUMB Fourteen Foot Bank

Hope to get these soon and thanks everyone for your help to this point. You know who you are!

I think the reasons for the thumbnail popularity

1. They do not take up any room you. You could collect 100’s of them and store them all in a shoebox.
2. They have had a good track record of holding their value.
3. Since they hold their value and don’t require much room to store or display them collectors hold onto them. This generates a demand for them.
4. They are obtainable but not too obtainable. They are obtainable that collectors can find them but not too obtainable were you see ebay dumping.

and..
5. It's possible to collect them all without breaking the bank.

5 great reasons! Simple and straightforward.

One other reason they became popular:
Most Thumbnails were given away at one time or other. I know I got started from the free ones that was given to me at signings. I then turned around and bought others to complete the sets.

HARBOUR LIGHTS SET OF 9 THUMBNAILS 05 MACKINAC REUNION for $460.55


I guess I am not getting a set anytime soon. It looks like the Mackinac reunion thumbnails will be the missing set in many a thumbnail collection.
They are the coquille river of the thumbnails.