Tell us the story of how YOU got hooked on Harbour Lights.

I discovered lighthouse replicas at Monodock's Gifts in Mackinaw City in August 1996. They carried several lines. I was thrilled with the detail of Harbour Lights, but they were, of course, the most expensive choices.

I agonized and went back to the store a couple of times. Finally with the 'encouragement' of my wife, I decided to buy some HLs and have them shipped home to Arizona. (She denies/regrets that encouragement today.)

I ended up buying about 20 Scaasi pieces on the remainder of the Michigan trip. When I got home I discovered the AOL "Lighthouse Collectibles Board" and that there were other people who shared my new obsession passion.

Somewhere I found a copy of Jim Rutherford's "Survival Guide" and that's what hooked me. By the end of 1996, I owned all but four pieces made by HL to that date.

And while it was an expensive plunge, the friendships have been 'priceless' as the MasterCard commercial proclaims.

So what's YOUR story?

Two more posts, John! Actually, it was the Lighthouse Depot catalog which got me hooked. It was in 1997 and somehow I ended up on their mailing list. I couldn't believe how beautiful the Harbour Lights models were. I had to buy Point Isabel and Bolivar Point; of course, they were the GLOW's because I didn't know enough about collecting. Since then, I have obtained the LE's. On another thread I talked about the fact that Point Isabel was the first lighthouse I saw - when I was a kid. To me Padre Island could have been Treasure Island. I had the opportunity to go there only a couple of times but the pirate and ghost tales told on the beach had me hooked on everything related to the sea. However, I did not join the Harbour Lights Society until 1998. 11:59 EST is very close; I will be watching!!

John, it sounds like you got in fast with both feet. I got in much slower. My first one was a Jupiter LE, however, it was a gift. Believe it or not I could not afford to buy even one LE at the time. For what seems a long while my wife and I bought only the LLOM when we had visited the lighthouse. Then I joined FLA (Florida Lighthouse Association)and they would have a couple of Harbour Lights for auction to raise funds, and final had a few dollars to bid, but of course the one I want, Sea Horse, was popular and I lost out. However, a dealer had come to our meeting and had one with her, so I made my first purchase that day. This year (2005) I final made some other purchases both from this site and EBAY. At the end of 2005 I bought for first lens.
I been to 2 Harbour Light events (Jacksonville and St. Augustine)and meet the Youngers. My son Ian won a LLOM at one event. Really looking forward to the ELL coming this year, it will be my first brand new, never been owned before, Harbour Light.

I got hooked on Harbour Lights in a roundabout way.

I took a trip to Hilton Head Island in March or April of 1999 and we climbed the Harbourtown Light and I looked around the gift shop at the top but I resisted buying anything . We had been to several Lighthouses in Maine on previous trips but still had not been bitten by the LH bug. I wish we had because I would have had a 3 year jump on my HL collecting.

I was onliine looking for some Shelia's Collectibles (wooden silohettes of various types of buildings) of Williamsburg buildings because on the same trip as above we visited friends who had an extensive collection of Sheila's and Esther likes them. She also has a great love of Williamsburg so I decided to look for the Sheila's of them.

I found a website that had a set of 4 so I bought it. I looked around on the site for other collectible lines and they had a section on Lighthouses so I went there and looked around. (They worst part of this whole thing was that after I bought the first set of 4 I found out that the line was discontinued and I spent over a year on ebay buying the rest of them. I gave Esther the whole set after I had completed it)

I found the Harbour Lights section as well as several other LH lines. The others couldn't hold a candle to the HL ones. I decided to buy a GLOW of Harbour Town.

I then started searching around on the net and found the HL site and saw that Bill younger was going to be at a store signing near me so I went. I bought some more that day- mostly LE's and had Bill sign them.

I ran into a gentleman who was involved in the NJ Lighthouse Society at the signing and he invited me to a meeting and that got me involved with the real thing which then got me more involved with HL.

Esther and I have now been to about 260 Lighthouses and I have about 175 HL's- LE's, GLOW, LLOM and all of the christmas Ornaments (the only thing I have everything of).

We've been to several HL Outings but unfortunately the Reunions never worked right for us to go to them. I have met many good people- some only online and a good number of them in person. I treasure that even more than the HL Lighthouses themselves.

Dennis

I was at my favorite Hallmark store (Colorado Stationers) when I saw their display of LLOM, and had to have the Cape Hatteras. While ringing up my purchase the owner of the store told me that Bill would be there for a signing event the following week and she said I might enjoy it.

Well, I went and there met Randall Ronne; he was the person that told me about the Forums. He introduced me to Bill & Judy Newblom. And of course I met Bill Younger, this is the person that really and truly opened the door to my passion for Harbour Lights.
I won a HL t-shirt with SeaPines embroidered on it. Well of course, I just had to have the HL piece to go with the shirt, which at that point was just the GLOW.(Not being an educated collector I bought it.)

What a wonderful time I had. I have been to every signing event (except one) held in Colorado since that time. I don't have a current total as I got very sloppy about keeping track on my spreadsheet but have filled 2 large standing cabinets, and a smaller wall cabinet for the LLOMs, and still have quite a few in boxes. Fortunately, for Christmas my husband has built a "built in" that fills almost one entire wall (15' long X 7.5' high) in my living room so I'll get to empty those boxes as soon as the doors are finished.

I bought my first HL, Southeast Light Block Island, in the summer of '94. I bought it because of my love of Block Island where I spend a considerable amount of time each summer.

I didn't buy my next HL until the late summer of '97. I became involved, by chance on the Net, with the old AOL Board where you could contact other collectors who were buying and selling HL's. Then I got involved with some of our more senior members at the old AOL Chats. I felt proud that I purchased six more HL's within a month and my collection was shaping up. Little did I know that the retail value of my collection would exceed $30,000 years later.

The best part of HL collecting was the thrill of the hunt and finding an occasional rare piece on a dealer's shelf for retail or better. Once I had completed my collection, the thrill faded through the "autoship-one-of-each" maintenance program.

I still have well over 300 HL's in stock. I still buy and sell as time permits and have fulfilled many a dream for those fellow collectors looking for a special piece.

I still maintain my enthusiasm for HL collecting and can't resist a bargain when I see it. What has kept me enthused is the Collector Forums and our relationship with the Younger Family. Now that Bill and Nancy are retiring, or should I say semi-retiring, I will wait with great anticipation to see what comes from the helm when the new command takes over. It will be very interesting to see what heading the new folks will take.

Bob

Working at various Florida and Georgia Lighthouse on the electronics equipment used for navigation that was installed inside the lights. When I saw the detail that Harbour Lights used on these lights it was love at first site.

Went inside a dealer/gift store called Main St. Designs here in Livermore back in January 1995, took one look at Cape Blanco, OR and had to have it...went back the next day and bought Yaquina Head and Cape Meares, OR...dealer gave me an old brochure which had pics of Coquille River and North Head, WA, which I also had to have...so began my expensive journey/hobby...was only going to get the Oregon lights, then just Northwest lights, then just West Coast lights, then just lights I'd seen, then...oh well, you get the pic...

Back in 1998 me folks bought a vacation home up in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin. Patti and I we're actually the first people to use it after they closed on it. We made several visits to downtown Sturgeon Bay, and at the time there was a shop there called Orthobers Gallery that carried Harbour Lights.(now Audrey M.Off Gallery, my dealer) We admired them in passing, and decided to get my folks a "thank you" gift of the new Sturgeon Bay light. Well, my Dad of course, reciprocated by buying me the same light for my birthday a week later. The S.B. light sat on a shelf in our family room for the next year. Occasionally I would dust and admire it, but that's as far as it went. The Following spring we we're back up in Door County andstopped at another store in Fish Creek that we found carried H.L.'s. There, we saw that they had several already retired Cana Islands' in stock. A quick call to my Dad to see if he wanted one as well, bought two, and that got the interest peaked. We also picked up a brochure and saw all the other lights that we're made that we had seen and we we're off and running.

I must say though what really helped spark things back then was the Harbour Lights web site. Being able to go on and find shops to stop at during our travels was a big help. We take a lot of trips to see hockey games, so findin H.L. shops along the way mad ir quite a quest for us. Plus, the double income, no kids thing at the time helped out a bit too. And finding the Forums, back when it was linked to the H.L. sight has been as much fun as the collecting itself.

Now, with about 150 pieces, and running out of room to display them, we try to get the kids involved. Maggie, our 5 year old has her own Little Light collection and love to go see lighthouses. Michelle's only 9 months, so the jury is still out on her, but I suspect she'll be the same.

Mike

It may be sacrilege, but we first got interested through the John Hine British lights.

Stan's son found the Old Lundy Light and the Longstone Light in a shop near where he was stationed at the time. He gave them to his Dad for a birthday present.

We then spent ages trying to find more of these lights. Finally we got in touch with HL and they referred us to an address in Wales... no joy from there. So we continued searching ...

In the mean time, we had visited the TX lighthouses and were looking for a souvenier. This gave Stan's daughter a good idea. And she bought those for us as a Christmas present. I got the Point Loma light from her too!

And I am glad to say both kids were sensible enough to stick to LL kind of lighthouses.

And then we joined CF and with the help of you good folks found the complete LL British collection!

So there we are ... curious to see which ones of the little figures we will need to add, after our trip to CA in March!