Here's a little (well, not so little) editorial I wrote for JC's HLCIC before it became the official HL Web site and before these forums (or the FSB as you know it today) ever existed. It was posted around December of 1997, long before sign-up day for the 2nd Reunion. For the historians in the crowd, here's where we find the origin of the terms 'REXA' and 'REXM'.

And now, re-released for the first time in its full un-cut splendor...

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From the Fog Signal Building

As most of you know by now, Harbour Lights (HL) plans to give Society Members the opportunity to purchase the 1998 "Reunion Exclusive" piece. This opportunity is limited to a one-month purchasing window and members will receive further details and a special order form with their Winter Legacy. The piece available to Reunion attendees will be differentiated from the one for Society Members by special flag, label, and certificate. As with last years event, actual '98 Reunion attendees have the option to acquire a second "Reunion Exclusive" piece and also will receive a "Limited Edition Gift" miniature (limited to one per attendee). For the '97 Reunion, both these pieces were models of the New Point Loma lighthouse in San Diego (NPL).

The New Point Loma pieces were only available to folks who actually went to the event in San Diego. With the full size model having a production run of 950 and only 480 miniatures given out, these are now among the very rarest Harbour Lights models. In less than 6 months the prices of these little cuties has moved faster than a lens cleaner keeper on inspection day. At years end, the full size NPL is in the $750-$1200 range and the miniature (if you can find one) will easily cost you more than a Navesink.

With its general availability to Society members, prospects for the '98 Reunion Exclusive reaching these lofty heights does not bode well. Suppose everyone attending the Reunion has wised up and plans to bag their limit - lets say that's 1000 pieces of what I'll dub this the "Reunion Exclusive for Attendees" (REXA).

We don't know how many current Society Members there are - I've heard anywhere from 11,000 to 17,000. However, we might speculate on the number of these HL will sell based on other special pieces available solely to Members. Pt. Fermin has an edition size of 6511 and Stonington is in the 7000 neighborhood. Of course the Society Pieces can be acquired anytime during their year of issuance and the "Reunion Member Exclusive" (HL actually uses this terminology(!), call it REXM for Members ) piece is only available during a one month period.

Now, the timing of this one-month period could be a factor. If it's before the Reunion, which lighthouse is chosen for the piece may be unknown and some folks may not choose to purchase sight unseen. (That NPL was chosen wasn't known until the Reunion itself). If the Society order period is after the event, order size could be impacted by which light is modeled, quality and uniqueness of the piece, and the general afterglow of post-Reunion bliss. If HL was really foxy, they'd place the order window before the Reunion sign-up date - this probably would insure REXM orders from the hard core collectors who plan to go to the Reunion, but aren't yet assured of a spot. (This means we should see our Winter Legacies *real soon* (fat chance) and I personally doubt HL could coordinate this in the limited time before the mid-February Reunion sign-up.) I also suspect HL wants to maximize the number of REXM pieces they sell to help keep down the cost of this limited run. Though they might get some extra orders from those hoping to attend, the longer excitement builds for the Reunion the more likely non-attending Society members will become envious and purchase.

Based on all this hoo-haa I'm gonna guess REXM orders will be in the neighborhood of 3000-3500 from non-attending Society Members with another 250-350 orders coming from Reunion attendees themselves who want to have at least one of each variety. Shucks, lets call it an even 4000. Feel free to take your own guess.

For purposes of discussion, lets assume this "reasoning" gives us a REXA + REXM edition size of 5000. Not bad if you're HL - they might make a profit or otherwise help pay for Reunion expenditures. At the very least they'll get a lot closer to break-even on production costs for this piece than they did with NPL. Not so good if you're looking to pay for your trip from the sale of the piece.

So what's it all mean? Is HL doing the right thing by offering the Reunion Exclusive piece to non-attending Society Members? How will this affect the NPL market or the HL collectibles market in general?

Don't worry, I didn't come this far to leave you adrift.

Let's consider NPL first - a delightful phenomenon that's given us a lot to chat about over the last year. In the most general terms the value of New Point Loma stands on its own - there's only 950 of 'em. The aesthetics of the model and the law of supply & demand are too fundamental for it to suffer adversely from the potentially much larger edition size of the 2nd Reunion piece. The mere fact of a 2nd Reunion can only enhance the value of NPL as the first Reunion Exclusive piece. I believe NPL's relative stature in the marketplace is secure. Wouldn't surprise me to see a market up-tick for this piece as reunion time draws near.

The same holds true for the NPL miniature. Right now the NPL miniature is in a scale class by itself. (Personally I think it's the Goldielocks lighthouse - not too big, not too small. Imagine the entire line-up in this scale - we'd sure save money on display cabinets). Assuming the 2nd Reunion miniature is of a similar size we'll then have a series - HL miniatures. I suspect the Rhode Island attendees who didn't get to San Diego will 'just have to have' a New Point Loma miniature to go with the one they bring home. At the time of this writing, the NPL miniature is somewhere in the $350-$500 range - there are so darn few of them on the market (480) its harder to track. By November of '98 this little gem could hit $850+.

Now, for the touchy issue: what about HL offering the '98 Reunion Exclusive to non-attendees?

As a fellowship of collector's celebrating lighthouses and their hobby, the Reunion is not about the Reunion Event piece. I believe if HL didn't come up with some sort of gathering the lighthouse collecting community would inevitably hold a get together on their own. Not as well organized or publicized, and definitely without a model for attendees to take home, but somehow, somewhere, gather we would. With only 500 reunion attendance slots, availability of the REXM piece to Society Members will not dilute incentive to attend the Rhode Island shindig.

Course this still doesn't answer the question: should there be a unique piece available only to folks who make the trek to Providence on October 2? I've heard a variety of views on this issue.

Part of the problem comes from the conjunction of the words 'Reunion' and 'exclusive'. Once the piece is available through Harbour Lights outside the Reunion, it may be exclusive and it may be the Reunion piece, but it sure ain't the 'Reunion Exclusive'. Obviously this little semantic conundrum is well understood by Bill Young and family -witness their best effort at fudging when they used the phrase 'Reunion Member exclusive' in the announcement literature. So, OK, these are just words, we'll get over it. But believe me, the secondary market will make the REXA/REXM distinction. And it will maintain the difference between pieces obtained at the event and those obtained over the phone. The minor flag, label, and certificate differences will insure collector's know which is which. I foresee at least a 35% price differential on the secondary.

Some folks suggest a truly exclusive piece would only be available to Reunion attendees - and each participant only gets one. That sure would be exclusive. For such a piece to escape to the secondary market the attendee would have to offer up his personal copy. Can you imagine. These would become family heirlooms. ("And to my nephew Fred, goes the Plum Beach, but only on the condition he never sell it"). And try as hubbo might to get wifey to sell hers - 'but dear we can get those snow tires for the Bronco' - 'no way' she says - smart girl .

On the other hand, I suspect plenty of people see anyone with the desire for an attendee-only piece as resulting from their desire to make a nice fat profit on a very limited edition. "Oh my, those greedy lighthouse reunion attenders, - look what they're doing to our hobby!" "Shouldn't all the models be fairly available to everybody - not all are in this to make a buck - and after all we love lighthouses just as much as those who can afford to go". I sympathize with this perspective.

But I don't agree with it. I don't buy into the idea of a Harbour Lights entitlement program.

I think the hobby as a collector's hobby needs exclusive pieces. Real exclusive. Not a model that is slightly more limited than the annual Society Piece. But a few pieces sprinkled through the series that are as rare as NPL. And I'll tell you why.

With a regular edition size now at 10,000, we're getting close to blurring the distinction between hobby and collectible. Why do people want the limited edition with a fixed edition size rather than the open edition GLOW model? (I'll grant you some of the GLOWs are not as nice, but some of them are nicer than their limited edition counterparts. I don't think its aesthetics). People want the limited edition because, well, because its limited. They want something that will maintain or increase in value. This is part of what it means for Harbour Lights to be accepted as collectibles. I'll assume if you're collecting limited editions and not GLOWs it because you recognize there is a real difference between them that goes beyond the actual models of each line.

Do you think Harbour Lights, as a collectible would be nearly as popular today if there weren't the allure of an original R1 Cape Hatteras or a St Augustine? Even if you have no hopes of acquiring one of these rarities, your collection is accepted as a collectible, at least in part, because of them . Rarities or very limited editions help maintain other pieces in the line up as valuable and help to pull the entire market along. They are a very real part of the psychology, if you will, of a collectible versus a hobby where you can always be assured of availability.

Some pieces are more valuable than others because the lighthouses they represent are more popular, more of a tourist attraction, better looking, etc. These factors will always have an impact of the relative worth. But with an edition size now at 10,000 we're not going to see too many new rarities created as in the past with the likes of Hilton Head or Big Bay. Nowadays, apart from the occasional mold variety, rariety, if it is to happen, must be created as such. The 'true' Reunion Exclusive (a la NPL) is a created rariety.

In what has now become a mature Harbour Lights market, there is still a need for scarcity. Scarcity ultimately drives these little models as collectibles. Scarcity is romance. It took over ten months after I started collecting before I even saw a St. Augustine. But I sure knew what it was when I finally saw one. I was really excited to see this little beauty. And even though it took another 10 months before I had one of my own, its little red lantern room held sway in a corner of my imagination. Don't underestimate the value of the 'hunt' versus the 'having'. Scarcity drives the thrill of the hunt.

Its generally recognized there is a core of HL collectors - those folks who want one of each no matter how butt ugly it is. Even though they may not expect to acquire, say, a Coquille River, these folks still want one - and when one comes within arms reach (pitter patter), they think seriously about owning 'the little coffin'. The members of this core are the soul of the Harbour Lights collector community. We may all keep the flame - but within this group it burns the brightest. It is from here that springs the legend and lore of Harbour Lights models - it is here that the 'oral tradition' is kept alive.

It is this core group of collectors that is served by the likes of New Point Loma. And HL as a company should recognize this - this group is as important to their success as the couple that buys just one 'cause its where they had their honeymoon. It is the same reasoning that leads HL to create GLOWs or Society Pieces that should lead them to create a 'true' Reunion Exclusive available exactly in the way that NPL was available (2 to an attendee). A GLOW version of the Reunion piece would serve just fine as a place holder to those who can't obtain one, or at least obtain one right away.
But - it ain't gonna happen. I think it's a mistake on HL's part to offer the Reunion Exclusive to non-attending Society Members. It'll still be a beautiful piece no matter how many are made. I just hope mine has the Reunion flag.

One final thought - there will be a true Reunion Exclusive. It's the Reunion Exclusive miniature. Oh, and HL, if you're listening - there's still a way to have our cake and eat it too. Make the miniature for a different lighthouse than the full size piece.

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Obviously my prediction about the NPL mini did not come to fruition. There were around 6000 REXM's sold and 700 REXA's.

Rgds,
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/im

[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 03-14-99).]