Here's Harry's response to an email I sent and comments he provided in a follow-up phone call:
Dear John,
I've been in touch with the factory with regards to the Cheboygan Crib. They are making replacements for all the damaged pieces, so we should hopefully be able to beat the factories shut down for their new year.
We found a few broken piece when Bill, Kim and Nancy signed the pieces, but the trip via UPS seems to have really done a number on some of the pieces. This really is a great shame and I'm terribly sorry to all the collectors who have been anxiously waiting for this special piece.
Could you please put the word out that we will of course replace any damaged piece. Anybody with a damaged piece should call customer service and they will take care of them.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
Harry
Since today was the last day Harbour Lights was open this year, Harry has said you can leave a message on their answering machine and those messages will be taken down off the machine periodically.
You'll need to provide the serial (edition) number of the piece(s) that need to be replaced along with the name you used when they were shipped to you and your address. You will receive the same numbers to replace the damaged ones.
If you want to wait until January 3rd to call in, you'll still receive replacement(s).
As noted above, Harry has the factory already at work on making a supply of replacements of the whole piece. They will be air-shipped to El Cajon and should arrive in early February. All the pieces will have the same typo on the sign (REUNIOH) as the originals. The trees limbs will be strengthed with internal wires -- which should have been done by the manufacturer -- but these trees will be externally indistinguishable from the originals.
The original production run for Cheboygan Crib was 519 pieces ordered by the 400 reunion attendees. To receive your replacement(s), you will be asked to break off the tree and return just the tree. More details will be provided when the replacements are ready to send out.
