I know the topic has been brought up in the past, but it seemed like it never got a great response. Also, since I am a Michigan City native (born & raised) and I simply MUST know this info about my beloved hometown light where I've accumulated many, many great memories I'm going to ask for everyones participation on this one. I am looking to accumulate knowledge on where the blue/green water ended, where the green water ended, where rods ended, Canadian or Malaysian, etc. So if everyone will chime in with their variation(s) and serial#'s you would make and old Hoosier smile!(and probably Rich too!!)

I know it would make me EXTREMELY happy to find a green water piece. I know the Mixed Water (Green/Blue) is somewhere around 1000 pieces. The remaining 4500 pieces are blue. This information comes from the 5th edition of Rutherford's book. I don't really get excited about Canadian or lightning rods but would certainly get excited if I could lay my hands on the last piece of the 4 green water variations.

I have a Malaysian 1190 w/rod blue water.

Ken

I have #548, Canadian with rod and the description notes that its "water is dotted with splashes of blue & green to resemble frothy foam."

I also have #4459, Malaysian without rod and no indication of anything special about its water.

HL123 Michigan City, IN (Green Water) w/rod #1757
HL123 Michigan City, IN (Blue Water) retired #5240

Both were produced in Malaysia...

The one I have is Flag #571, has a lightning rod and a 1" diameter Made in Canada sticker on the bottom. Water is very lightly painted and suspect it would be considered one of the blue-green water pieces.

Dan

Probably not much help, I have #16 Canadian with rod and Blue/Green water & #5100 a Malaysian with Blue water.

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I really appreciate them! Keep them coming. Hey Dick, what would it take to get that #16 away from you???

It took a lot of work to get the #16 but I would be willing to part with it for a Split Rock, MI. in mint condition.

WOW!! Thats a pretty tall order!! I was thinking more along the lines of a trade/cash deal. I have M.City #51 with its original white box that I'd trade along with some greenbacks...

My Michigan City is just a plain old blue water with flag#4076. It may be old but it looks like new!

Bob

You people with the Green Water pieces sort of make me GREEN with envy!

Interesting offer. Send me an email with some specifics and even though this is one of the best finds in my collection, I might be able to lower my sights just a little.

Dick,

I sent you an email.

Come on guys, I know there are more than 7 members out there that have an HL123!! Open the 'ol curio and get some info.!!

I have a light teal blue S/N 2343 and a regular blue S/N 3303. They are both Malysian made with no rods. The teal blue one is the same as my light teal blue New London Ledge. It looks like they put the base coat on to simulate the white caps and forgot the top coat of blue.

The only one I have that I would describe as a true blue/green mix is #393. I have a very light green #553. It almost looks like they forgot to fill it in with blue water for the combo effect. I also have a light blue
Canadian #1053. It is a much lighter shade of blue (blue/gray) than the later versions.

Here are the variations I have (clockwise starting at 12:00):

#3532 Blue Water
#287 Green Water
#136 Blue/Green Water
#1120 Grayish Blue Water



Mike

I'm impressed, Mike! That's quite a lineup of Michigan City pieces. WOW!

Bob

Mike nice collection.
But you are still missing one Canadian variety and that is the Green on gray water.
My lowest Green on Gray is 10 and my highest number is #755. The Green on gray variety looks as if the artist ran out of blue and just painted splashes of green on the gray base.

I know of three of these varieties including my two. I also believe that there are more out there but all are classified as green water because nobody has ever identified all the color varieties of the Michigan City. Since Michigan wasn’t one of the big seller and wasn’t a true green water like the other three LE’s, I feel that it missed out of its well deserve classification of having at least four paint variations if not more.

I don’t think that there is an all solid green water variation.
If there is please let me know.

Oh ya; My #755 also has a gray felt and my Mylasian Michigan City has blue water with number 4800

I'm absolutely amazed at some of the pieces in the hands of collectors out there.

There's the "one of everything collectors", and there's the complete collections including some extremely rare variations.

This certainly makes collecting very interesting, to say the least.

Bob

Wow, until I read this topic I hadn't pulled my pieces out of the cabinet & storage for over a year. After Daniel's post I pulled it out again and found that the water on #16 does look like someone just rolled over the top of the natural mold color with green paint and it is sort of "natural" underneth. It is amazing how such a simple piece like this can be unique in so many subtle ways. It gives me a whole new appreciation of this piece.

Thanks for all the great info from others, and this is the type of topic that I find amoung the most interesting on the forums, when all levels of collectors get into the unique, & sometimes subtle, differences in their pieces. It also should be creating information for the next "Greenbook", or Rothman, type of publication. It might be a great idea to have a regular post like this for different pieces to get collectors to pull out a piece and comment on the specifics. If someone compiled this information it would be a great reference to all forum members and maybe help establish a great baseline for insurance valuation.

That was my exactly my point in my post in the poll that John was conducting concerning the demise of the forums. I personally find this sort of thing very interesting. I started this discussion on M.C. because it is my favorite, but I would have just as much interest in doing this for New London or Boston Harbor or any other of the early LE's. I appreciate all the responses we have received so far on this topic. Keep 'em coming!

4980 has blue water.

4911 has a strong blue water. No rod. Made in Malaysia round sticker.

It's been my observation that high numbered pieces from the early 5500 series were consistently and well painted compared with the earliest ones.

In looking at this piece for this thread, I note that the copyright on the flag and sticker are '1991', but it is listed as a 1992 introduction in HL's publications.

I hope Mike doesn't mind, but I ran his photo of the 4 versions of Michigan City through the 'Auto Adjust' feature of PhotoShop and it came out like this:



Comparing mine to his with this adjustment, mine is about a twin to the 12 O'Clock position one. I think this adjustment brings out the green water a bit more also.

To all concerned Newbies, Wackos, Super Wackos and Saints and any unnamed collectors reading this post, please take pity on an old retired Coastie and read "Want to trade for an Artist Proof" post in the New Marketplace Forum. My days could be numbered if I don't quit eating so many barbecued ribs and you could certainly brighten these days if you heed the plea for a trade. Sorry Saint John, but I'm getting desperate and have been known to beg to get my way.

Thanks, John. The colors in the photo after you made the adjustments are much more representative of the true colors of the four pieces.
Thanks again!!

I really enjoyed seeing the many variations that exist for this piece. When I look at the "cluster of four", I would describe the #571 Canadian w/rod piece I have as one described with greyish blue water. Hmmmmm ..... I once thought I had a green water piece.

Dan

I have #1143 that is Canadian with a rod and light
bluish-gray water.