We are entering dangerous ground here. The SSN's (sacred single numbers) are not to be messed with. Selling those as a lot would be like the government selling all the gold reserves at Fort Knox. Those SSN's should be offered a little at a time with most of the faithful having a chance to own one.

The DP's (deep pockets) are already drooling! Ninety-seven flag# 1's via sealed bid, all at once. Anyone care to guess what the 97 flag# 1's will be worth if sold individually? How about a nice round number bid of $10,000. That's a little over $100 a piece. Not many people can step up to the plate and cough up ten-grand in the name of HL's. Do you think a person could turn a profit of reselling those #1's one at a time? I would say a person could turn an extremely handsome profit at least tripling his or her initial investment, if you could buy that lot for $10,000.

This is a little fairer to the general population of the forum faithful. But to bid with confidence, we need a list of HL product numbers with the accompanying flag #. Obviously, a single digit Portland Head would be worth more than a single digit Faulkners Island. Now when it comes to the "for all or portions of the collection", how the heck are they going to handle that? John C bids on 10 lighthouse at $100 each. He wants 4 of the 10 really bad so he bids $600 for those 4 and $400 for the other 6, total $1000. He is bidding on a portion of what's available. Bob M wants the same 10 HL's but is only willing to pay $100 each so he bids $1000. John & Bob have each bid the same amount of $1000. John is willing to pay $600 for 4 of them but only $400 for the other 6. Bob is willing to take the group of 10 for $1000. Who gets the 10 pieces?

None of this is really going to happen because someone is already figuring their profit margin by buying everything. This will require many thousands of dollars far beyond what 99% of us (that includes me!) can afford. Our expendible cash tolerates the purchase of all the new releases but nothing like the motherload Bill is willing to part with.

I'm sure Bill wants to move on and not be concerned with a gradual picking away at his collection. The new owners at Harbour Lights feel this is the right thing to do, but I'm sure many of us feel contrary minded. We want the opportunity to bid on each and every one of these treasures over an extended period of time, with the hopes that just maybe a single digit HL may join our collections.

I don't think that's going to happen. DP's are lining up. Even as we speak they are working the numbers and figuring their strategy. The Fort Knox of Harbour Lights will be raided by "Goldfinger" and "Pussy Galore" with her flying acrobatic team. Even James Bond is not going to be able to make a difference.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes: