I'm wondering just how people keep track of their Harbour Lights collection...

Do you use a spreadsheet, notebook, 3x5 cards or ??

What information do you keep track of ??

Serial number?
Date bought?
Where bought?
Condition?
Where stored?

Let's hear from some of the better organized among the group.

If you don't have a system of making a list of your collection, what kind of system would you use if it were available?

I have mine on a spreadsheet

The HL number.
The name.
Serial number.
How much it is worth.
What I paid for it.
Description (water color, where it was made, etc.).
Who it was bought from (if from internet I listed their email address).
Where it is stored.
Is it signed?

I am one of the least organized - that is, where my collection is concerned (pretty organized otherwise.). When I first started, I made sure I registered each piece, and I recorded it in a notebook, but I listed minimal information such as name and dealer from whom I purchased it. Then, I started noting which were signed by Bill. Later, I started a card system with the same info, but didn't finish. Now, I don't know what the heck I have - even though they are all on display.

I think a spreadsheet would work best. When I had hundreds of children's books, it was very easy to refer to my list. I have also gotten very bad about registering my pieces. Except for the ones I submit for drawings, I have not registered purchases from the last few years.

Excel Spreadsheet with the folloing column headings:

• HL #
• Name & Location of Lighthouse
• Edition #
• Edition Size
• What I Paid
• Original Retail
• Who signed the piece (I.E. Bill)
• Registered
• Date Retired
• Notes (I.E. which variation, how acquired)

My inventory is on Word Perfect and is laid out as follows:

Admirality Head
Washington
HL 101 # 649 of 4,400
$ 133.53
(1st of Original 1 7)
Origin: Canadian Mold with rod
Signed: B. Younger, '97
GBTru: $ 275
(B [#5], Commemorative Stamp, C of A, TC)

Issued: 01/1991
Retired: 12/1994*

Seahorse Location: Near sidewalk on grass next to addition on house under window.

Displayed in “Mistakes” cabinet.

I prefer to keep my inventory on Microsoft Word as it gives me the flexibility to have any and all the information I want to keep. I separated my lighthouses into the following groups:

Southeastern
Gulf
International
Northeastern
Great Lakes
West Coast/Pacific
Christmas/Society/GLOWS
Ornaments/Spyglass/Anchor Bays
Speciality

I then list the lighthouses alphabetically in each group and include some or any part of the following information along with a running total for each section of Retail/Paid/Secondary Market Prices:

HL#
Lighthouse Name(highlighted if signed)
State
Limited/Open Edition
Special Instructions
Signed
Variations
Serial Number/Edition Size
Release Date
Retirement Date
Retail Price
Price Paid
Secondary Market Price
Empty Box Location

It may be a little bit too much information but more is better then less.

I use an access database for all of our lighthouse items - incl. the HLs...

There I have
Name
County/Country
Admiralty or USCG number
HL or Catalogue No
and then a whole lot of columns about what we have for this lighthouse. I.e. Stamp, Post Card, Photograph, HL figure, First Day Cover etc. etc.

That way I can drill into the information.

Currently I have 1305 differnet lighthouses stored in this DB ... (sorry I am showing off) ...

I use to use the software that tracked all HL's until they never did an upgrade. After that I just didn't keep a computerized record of the info. I do a yearly (or so) inventory by wrting the flag#'s next to the name of the piece on a sheet of paper but I have been lax at that too. Too many things going on all the time!

I know my current inventory is not accurate because I have bought and sold many HL's since the last inventory a year or so ago. I have duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates and so on of some HL pieces. Maybe I'll get some time before Spring to do another accounting.

Bob

I have a very minimal excel spread sheet with:

HL Number
Name
Flag Number
Price Paid

I have it separated into the region I collect and all the other pieces I have picked up for variety of reasons. In both sections the price paid for is totaled and then there is a grand total for the collection.

I downloaded the software from the HL website into Excel and made some modifications. First I separated the one long list into separate tabs in categories such as LEs, GLOWs, Anchor Bay, etc. I updated the list upon new releases referring to the HL site for the details.

I added a few columns so now I have the following:
Product#
Flag#
Name
Intro Date
Retired Date
Height
SRP
Edition Sz
Do I have this?
Comments

In the Comments column I was keeping track of numerous things such as how I obtained, (Ebay, Won it at an event, gift, Signed, etc.) You may notice I used the past tense "was". I too became quite lasks in keeping everything updated.

I seriously need to complete an inventory

Mel, 'was' is the key word in more ways than one. The table HL used ot have on its web site was very handy to use, and you could always copy and paste updates. Unfortunatley the table is, what, like 2-3 years behind? This was a great tool that I bet a lot of collectors used, either in printed form or converting into a spreadsheet.

Maybe it will resurface in an updated version.

Hopefully, updating the website will be one of the tasks that Don and his crew are able to accomplish. It would be a great help.

Well, here's the first revision is a long, long time.

Only in Excel format for right now. Some missing dates and quantities. I've added some of the fields you have been saying you used. If you can provide some of the missing information or dispute some of the data, please email me.

http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/hl_product_list_02_26_06.xls

Right click and save it or left click and open it.

I use a FilemakerPro database with the following fields:

HL Number
Lighthouse Name
State
Edition Size
Price
LE #
Have (Y or N) [I track all LEs wether I own them or not]
Signed (No, Bill, Nancy, Kim) [Check boxes]
Where purchased

I stopped added GLOWs since I don't buy them. I do add LLOM but only the ones I have. The Signed field is very useful when a signing event is nearby.

Robert

I have changed over the years... The first year I even kept all of my receipts, now I have a Microsoft Word Document that I have listed by HL number: HL number, Name, State, Flag #, Box or No Box, Signed (all are signed as of 2005 items)...
Listed once again by HL number..
Limited, Open and on through all of the HL numbers items much like John's published Excel list..

New 2006 Lights information is in red until I get them and Not Signed is in red until Signed...

I will have to print up both my list and John's Excel list and cross check them..

John,

Have a few corrections for your PH Spreadsheet and will send them on later this week as you requested.

The original PH had two additional columns that are missing from your layout--the edition size and the retirement date. Will future PH have those columns?

I do have a question you may be able to answer--HL 691 is listed on your spreadsheet as Cheybogen Crib, MI priced at $45 and issued 8/28/2005. That name/number is not found on HL's listing when I do a product search or when I query pieces for each state. Can you solve that mystery?

Thanks,
Sandy

The product search database is not up-to-date. There are a few products missing from my downloadable Excel sheet also. When I get your corrections, etc. I'll fix those as well.

Still waiting sort of patiently for the missing production quantities on a score or so of products.

It's a work in progress.

John,

Thanks.

Sandy

Does anybody have info on HL 691 listed on Product History on the Excel spreadsheet as Cheybogen Crib, MI priced at $45 and issued 8/28/2005? That name/number is not found on HL's listing when I do a product search or when I query pieces for each state. Can anyone tell me more about this piece?

Sandy HL 691 is the lighthouse that was created at the Reunion and had the breakage problems on delivery.. It needs to be added to the 2005 catalog page..

One of the Crib Threads

Thanks Paul. Was searching for something else in my HL folder and found info pertaining to this and memory banks took on a glow for all the lightbulbs going off! This "getting old" is really annoying.

Sandy