Now I know a lot of you have lots of HL's in lots of beautiful cabinets. Today I purchased my first curio - at Ames, no less! For the money I really don't think it's bad at all. It's about 70" high and only about 14" wide and holds about 15 full sized HL's. Now it's not Thomasville but for $119 ($169 - 30% Monday only coupon)what do you want? It only has one small light in the top but I have it next to a library table with a candlestick lamp on it with a small dark green shade and when the lamp is on as well, bingo - it lights the lower shelves beautifully.

Sounds good, mombo. I've been looking at curio cabinets for a while. My only concern, already mentioned in other threads in this forum, is the thickness of the glass shelves. They should be at least 3/8" tempered glass, not the 1/4" that most low-end cabinets have.
Supposidly easy to get replacement shelves.

I think I'll check out Ames soon...

There are some very good "low end" curio's on the market. If you are not concerned about having solid Oak and don't mind Particle Board, there are some good deals.

I have purchased two curio's by the Ashley Company that are very nice IMHO. They are 72" high and 26" wide, holding on the average of 38 Harbour Lights each, depending on the arrangement of the pieces. The glass shelves are 1/4" and show no signs of flex when fully loaded with 8 HL's, and the construction is solid. The price of these curio's was $220. each from Value City Furniture.

If you are on a budget, spending your money on HL's, and not wanting to cut into the purchases with an expensive curio, a lower end curio may be what you need. Just make sure of what you are getting. If not, the tragedy may not be worth the savings.

What would it take to sell you this nice ottoman?

-Todd

Mombo

How many curio's did you buy? You know that you're gonna need more than one. Just tell the dealer that you'll be by every couple of month's to get another one. I recently bought one of those half boats that you hang on the wall. I fastened plexiglass doors on the front and a light. These are perfect for the Ornaments, they make a really "cool" display for the smaller pieces that get lost among the larger ones in a curio.

One of my favorite sayings is, "The quality lives on long after the price is forgotten."

Another saying is, "You get what you pay for."

Don't risk your HL collection by displaying it in a cabinet that may fail sending your beloved HL's down to the bottom shelf in a pile of pulverized porcelain.

Obviously, 1/4 inch shelf is more likely to fail than a 3/8 inch shelf. Plastic support brackets are more likely to fail than brass support brackets.

The point I'm making is you have invested considerable funds in a fine collectible. They deserve a safe and sound cabinet to protect their well-being. If you purchased a cheap brand LH replica that can be replaced readily for 10 or 15 dollars a piece, then a cheaper cabinet would be reasonable.

Do yourself a favor, resist the temptation of the inexpensive cabinet and put your money away until you find the "cabinet of your dreams." Trust Me...you won't regret it.

<^>

I recently purchased a Curio cabinet made by the Howard Miller Company. It is from the collectors series, and comes with 4 glass shelves 3/8" thick and rubber coated metal clips. The cabinet will except 3 more shelves (purchased seperately from dealer) and can be adjusted to fit all ranges of lighthouse sizes. It is model #680-211.
A quality cabinet worthy of displaying all your Harbour Lights.

Thanks for your advice. The Ames cabinet has rubber coated metal supports. The glass is only 1/4 inch but the width is only 15 1/2". The heavier pieces are on the wooden shelves (2). Any more than 3 HLs on one of these shelves doesn't look good anyway, unless they're lightweight/small GLOWS.

[This message has been edited by mombo (edited 04-06-99).]

Off to buy # 2 curio tomorrow at Ames. Sale $119 - 10% senior discount on Tuesdays. I'll bring the insignificant other along to make the senior discount legit. I'm still much too young to qualify, ha! I was very satisfied with the first one.

Way to go Mombo! Just keep those HLs and curios moving into your house.

Will you be using the money you saved with you senior discount to buy more Harbour Lights? ;-)

Polly