This may sound a little bitter, but on my wish list is that I wish that Harbour Lights would just go away. They put out a nice product and they sucked all the money of us collectors, then they made our collections worthless.
In the words of Charles Dickens: "BAH! HUMBUG!"

Couldn't have been said better, Mike.

Mike - Did HLs twist your arm enough to break it as you were taking the money out of your wallet? If they did it's the first time I heard of it happening. Most of us are upset at the way HLs ended it's run but with over 750 lighthouses in my collection I don't feel that HLs "SUCKED" one dollar out of me. I openly bought every one of my lighthoses and have had, and will continue to have, great pleasure from my collection. In fact I'm still continuing to buy lighthouses as I see variations that I don't have. I just ordered a S/N 1 Colossus of Rhodes from the Depot. This will be my only S/N 1 in my collection.

Collectors that collect something for an investment should play the stock market instead of collecting because it's a safer bet to make money and they probably weren't interested in what they were collecting anyway. A "fad" is exactly what the lighthouse craze was for over 20 years and I'm so glad it lasted that long because I have always loved lighthouses. I want to thank the Youngers and Don Devine for keeping it alive for so long even though they did things that I didn't care for such as the GLOWS, over producing (10,000 editions) and still not saying the run is over.

For those of you that have never had a chance to meet and talk with Bill Younger, one of the first things out of his mouth was "I hope your not collecting for an investment but because you love what your collecting". Instead of crying and yelling "BUH! HUMBUG!", you should be shouting "YEA! FANTASTIC!" and should be enjoying whatever lighthouses are in your collection.

No Rich
Remember at the Signing events, Bill Younger use to say that Harbour Lights used Magic paint that once you touched one it would make you compulsively buy them.

Yea Daniel, I remember the good old days and some of Bill's sayings. He could, and still can, keep people's attention.

IMO ....

Those of us who collected for the right reason, the lighthouse itself, are still enjoying their HL's and are not bitter.

Those of you who only collected for the resale value are the ones who missed the boat.

Those of us who collected for the love of the replicas, so well done, and for the love of real lighthouses, which we continue to support with our dollars, and had no illusions of ANY after market value, can still be legitimately frosted about being LIED to by the PRESENT owners! And, speaking of what we remember, when I started collecting only three years ago, nearly everyone on these forums was complaining about their collections not being worth anything thanks to the "e" word, and the new owners! So don't get sanctimonious on people who simply call it as they see it! I will always enjoy my Harbour Lights collection (of over 500) and do not, nor will I ever regret the money I spent on it. Besides, we made a friend in our dealer, and that is worth more to us than Lighthouse Marketing 10 times over!!!

There have been a wide range of opinions on the the Forums, but I have never complained about the current owners, nor about the value of my collection. Which is priceless !!!

My focus has always been on which replica are made and the detail of them.

Let me put the record straight.

1- Harbour Lights did not force me to spend one dollar.

2- Harbour Lights made a great product.

3- The Harbour Lights that I purchased were ones that I liked.

4- I did not buy any Harbour Lights for investment.

5- Then Harbour Lights allowed dealers to sell at a discount price on EBAY after they had already made their money.

6- Then!!!! When I pay full retail price for a lighthouse and a few months later the company is selling it for 50-60 percent lower; then I am being ripped off!!! and they they took my money to the bank and didn't care one bit about me the collector. Do you get the picture or are you so blind.

I am not bitter but i am a realist.
I enjoy my collection, but I have been ripped off bigtime and so have all of you.

So this is why I wish Harbour Lights would just go away.

It has nothing to do about the product.
It is about the Company.
THEY HAVE MADE their product worthless.
THEY HAVE MADE my collection worthless.
But all this after THEY HAVE MADE their profit.

Here Here Mike!!! You said it just the way I feel. I totaly and compleatly agree with your last statments (Let me put the record straight.)!

THANKS MIKE FOR THE HONEST TRUTH. YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T NEED ANY CHAPSTICK.

Lighthouse Marketing has done their best to alienate their dealers, as well. When their #1 dealer tells them to take a hike, (no, not us, although we were right up there), and many more of the top dealers throughout the country have also dropped the line, suffice it that there is a lot of bad blood out in the marketplace.
Product design was outstanding and I do admit that we made a living off the Harbour Lights product before the discounting by LHD made our inventories worth pennies on the dollar. Such a shame that the company has left such a bad taste in so many people's mouths, collector and dealer.

This is another reason for Harry to take up the lantern (so to speak) and start producing 3-4 lighthouses a year.

Time to give it up folks. It's all over. Enjoy the Harbour Lights that you have as I will do and get over it. It was a great product and will probably never be matched by anyone else.

It is unrealistic to think that Harry could continue the line on his own even if he wanted to. To take such a gamble would require sufficient financial resources to withstand a possible loss and a support staff, some sort of warehouse facility,etc.

I agree with Mike completely.

Ya, It's over. I believe there are less than 300 frequent and complete collection people left now, judging by the fact they couldn't even sell 350 Alaska reunion pieces. And now at $94 they still have some available, there isn't enough collectors left to even break even on production.

I have been figuring it was over since Tony left and in a way glad that the end has come. I'm out of room for new pieces and have been concentrating on filling in some of the gaps with the older variations (that have always been my favorites) that I still have a little room for.

It is just wishful thinking on my part that Harry could come out with some of the pieces that I know he had on the drawing board, of which 2 were near and dear to my heart, that I got him pictures and palns for from the Coast Guard Historian.

Just wishful thinking.

As I said before the only way that would be financially feasible For Harry to produce any lighthouses would be at home. Make a mold, cast around 25 white ware. Order a couple o f 100 stamped metal for the railing from China. Paint them as a hobby. Make it a limited edition of 200. The first one should be the Jones point or Savanna light. Complete 25 and sell them on the Forum. If it goes well make another 25 and keep going until a saturation point is made. I see very little overhead or financial commitments with this idea.

Would Love to Buy this way there are always many more Lighthouses I want to add to my collection . The price dosn,t matter as long as you are happy with your purchase ,just like my wife and her Annalee dolls .