This is just a little poll to get the feel of what everyone is doing.

I understand that every collector is saving the original boxes - that's a given
BUT
what is everyone doing with the new styrofoam inserts when your HLs are out of the box?
I know they're great for storage and shipping but are you really keeping them if you have a large amount of HLs on display?
Yes, I know we'd all be keeping them if we had the space!
Large collection owners, what are you doing?

So, here are your choices:
1 - I just keep the boxes.
2 - I keep the boxes and the styrofoam.
3 - I keep the boxes, styrofoam, and peanuts.
4 - I display my peanuts from my Cape Hatteras - Mold 1.

Thanks for participating.

3

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Keepin' the flame

Currently I am keeping just the boxes that came with peanuts (early HL's), and I break them down for easier storage. I also keep several garbage bags of peanuts for some unknown reason, but don't feel I need to. The newer boxes with foam inserts I am storing intact, keeping both foam and box as delivered. Those items that are not on display, old, new, and a few duplicates, I keep packaged just as I recieved them. Most of these are the newer pieces so I am not storing to many empty boxes, but there are some. Unfortunetly (for display purposes) I have about 175 HL lighthouses, and anchor bay ships, but I can only display about 90 pieces at a time. I usually only display retired pieces,and thus I have devoted a large corner of our crawl space for storage of stored pieces, empty boxes, and some peanuts. Since we live in the high desert of Colorado with a n average of about 5% humidity I'm not to worried about water damage.

It would be great if I could get rid of the foam, but my fear is that if I ever have to move there are many of the newer pieces that I would feel unsafe about if they were not in the original foam.

I am very interested in how others are dealing with this issue

2 (but then I don't have too many - yet.... If anybody has lots of those peanuts they're good for drainage in the bottom of your planters, etc.

2

3


I used to have garbage bags of peanuts, too. Used them up in some shipments. Now I'm aware of how valuable they are. Have you priced those things at Staples? And to think I turned over 2 bags full to the local Post&Ship store for their 'recycling' program. Yea, they took em for free and sold them for $$$$.

3.

I keep the polystyrene molded inserts and the peanuts in their original boxes. I layer the boxes on the floor in my attic. I figure that gives me an insulation R-value of about 120. I use the energy savings to justify the purchase of more HLs.

-Art [Hope I live long enough to break even]

#2 Both the boxes and the molded stryrofoam. If you ever need to sell you'll be glad you did.
Re- Jake

- 3 -

Like Art, I also have the higher R-values in my attic. I did have to install power vents so the boxes would survive our summertime heat. Richard Nashville Tn

I keep the inserts and boxes and at any given time I will have a garbage bag of peanuts hanging around.

We had a simular conversation on storing boxes awhile back. I still have mine scattered throughout, not in the attic...........yet. Still some concern about this Louisiana heat and attic storage,any ideas from Lamar, a southern gentleman from the great state of Louisiana

Thanks Bob

Peanuts were recycled at the local Post All Store; Boxes saved folded; Boxes with inserts remain intact.

Make sure you watch Martha Stewart who does a show about building living room furniture out of HL Boxes with styrofoam inserts. She puts the boxes together and uses velcro straps to hold them in place. Check with Fred who has already built 2 love seats and a couch utilizing this method.

#3

Older boxes are broken down and in one larger storage box that holds them all. 1 bag of peanuts on hand at most times. Newer boxes fully intact.

I also save the "outer" boxes of the Morris Island Set, Great Lakes Stamp Set, annual Collector Society "goodies" box, etc. (broken down when possible). I keep 1 or 2 typical "shipment size" boxes on hand that I receive from HL trades or out of state purchases. This way I never have to purchase a box or peanuts when selling or trading pieces, they come in very handy when you make alot of trades (and have probably been to 30 different states since other people do the same).

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-RodW
[This message has been edited by Rod Watson (edited 01-26-99).]

Thanks for your kind words Bob St. Clair.

I have elevated R-values in my attic, too. I added an extra roof turbine to keep air circulating. I'd had a power vent but it kept failing so I stopped replacing it. As soon as I get some extra time, I'm going to investigate using large, short, extremely light weight insulated containers used for transporting petrochemicals. I've seen them but have yet to find a source for small quantities. I also don't yet know the cost. I hope to post the results here before summer.


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Keepin' the flame



[This message has been edited by LamarB (edited 01-26-99).]

Store boxes and inserts if they are LEs.

Store boxes only on GLOWS and pitch the inserts (when you have several collectibles you get to the point where the packaging takes more room than the display).

Since I don't plan on selling my collection, I'll let my kids worry about it. They probably couldn't find the boxes anyhow, we have them tucked in all ovr the place.

I used to store lots of plastic peanuts/popcorn (no crackerjacks). Talked to my dealer and found they typically have an overabundance (which they send to recycling). If I need some let them know.

From the SF Bay Area where it is cold and rainy.
Fred (:

3
Keep all boxes, peanuts, foam inserts, etc., we have a very large storage space off our family room and would have even more if cleaned out the old Barbie stuff....come to think of if that may be worth something too!
{=^+^=}

3

I store all my boxes as they come, minus the Harbour Light piece. Sure they take up a lot of space in the attic, but they made my life so much easier when I moved last year.

After a while you get really good at the Harbour Light Box Jigsaw Puzzle (patent pending). It is amazing the number of boxes that fit in a small space if properly arrainged.

-Todd

3

We have all the boxes, styrofoam, peanuts in storage outside of our condo.

We gave all our peanuts back to the dealer which was not a smart move since we now need them to pack and ship items. All the boxes without inserts are broken down flat and placed on the computer room closet shelf. The boxes with inserts are left intact. We use a jumbo garment bag with a clear front (so we can see inside) to stack all the boxes inside. We made a list of the lighthouse # and taped it to the front of the garment bag so we could easily find them if we needed one. We have 50 empty boxes/inserts in one garment bag hung in the closet right under the broken down boxes. It works great - we live in Florida where heat and humidity won't allow us to store these boxes in the attic. We also don't have basements here.

2 for me. All the foam inserts stay together in the boxes, the ones that came with peanuts get emptied and I nest the smaller boxes in the bigger ones and store them in big rubbermaid chests. The peanuts all go to the packer-shipper guy who has a great deal. He takes them all in and then when you ship with him at a later time, he never charges to use them to stuff your boxes. And my pet peave of all time-dealers who throw the inserts away so they can store the boxes flat. They never get a return visit from me.