posted 07-31-2000 10:19 PM            

As far as the value of the HL's I've collected, I'm gonna let my kids and grandkids fight over them long after I'm gone, so if the value goes down, they'll have less to fight about.

posted 08-01-2000 09:58 PM            

Then I read gravedigger's post. Realized I, too, had put my stamp collection in limbo. It will always be there but I stopped attending stamp/coin shows. Haven't even purchased the album supplements the past two years.

The upside to this HL addiction is the thinning of my depression glass collection/accumulation. This is a good thing! I always bought & never got rid of anything. Now I'm disposing of some of it thru E-bay.

Still have my Wade figurines, washboard & iron collection. Carnival glass, Golden books etc. So its not like it is all going.

Can't imagine selling any of my lights. Sure I have plenty of lights that aren't on my coast or I haven't visited. But by next week the N. Carolina lights will mean a lot more to me after we visit them. Maybe I'll even get out to the Great Lakes someday!

I would never say never, but right now they are too special to me just like so many of my other collectibles. Anybody want to buy some glass??

posted 08-01-2000 10:21 PM            

I can totally relate to feeling burned out on Harbour Lights. I have been there.

I started out slowly with my addiction, only buying a few pieces at first. Those five or six pieces prompted my to find out more about the lighthouses that I had taken for granted all of my life. The more I learned, the more HL's I had to have, not just because I had to have them all, but because I thought they were beautiful.

I found the then Harbour Lights Collectors Information Center. I joined John's site and got "Keeper Status". I joined the HL Collector Society. I discovered the secondary market and the collection grew rapidly. Soon I received and offer to become part of Lighthouse Depot's "low number program" automatically being shipped #178 for every new release.

Then I started to become overwhelmed. The credit card bills started rolling in. I was running out of space and needed more curios. At times I felt like "What am I doing" and actually thought about selling my collection more than once.

Before I started collecting Harbour Lights, I collected fire memorabilia. Helmets, fire extinguishers, nozzles, ect....Since I found Harbour Lights however, nothing has been added to the collection in that category.

Everyone knows what is best for them. The advice to collect what you like is good advice. It is another to follow that advice when you like them all.

Still collecting after all these years and still in love with Harbour Lights, although at times with all of the releases still a little overwhelmed.

posted 08-02-2000 08:27 AM            

Tim - Keeping the flame lit...

posted 08-02-2000 06:05 PM            

I never thought I'd sell any of my HLs either until, like Todd, the credit card was screaming and the curio cabinet threatened to collapse. When I started planning my vacations around collectibles shops carrying HLs I knew it had to end. So I established some parameters, sold off (actually I'm still selling) the pieces that fall outside those parameters, and moved on to my other interests. I love the HLs I've kept but now will only buy those pieces that I fel will enhance my collection.Well, I'm off the cruise the Steiff site on Ebay!

Deb

posted 08-02-2000 07:21 PM            

I think the question you raised about collecting is one that everyone thinks about at some point in time. I thought I was the only one who ever thought, "What am I going to do with it all" or "How am I going to manage keeping up with it all"?

Before Roy and I were married I had already established a rather extensive colleciton of David Winter Cottages and a somewhat smaller collection of the Disney Classics (talk about over production and high prices of things, Disney takes top honors in my book).

Roy and I found that we shared a love for lighthouses and the history they have, so for a wedding present I gave Roy a membership to HL and purchased the Stamp Series for him. It wasn't until after we purchased it that we found out the issue date on the stamps was June 17, 1995. This just happens to be our wedding date. Needless to say we think this series is pretty special. Since that date we have focused primarily on a collection of HL.

I still keep track of the other collections but for me right now I find great pleasure in collecting HL with Roy. Like others have mentioned we only purchase what we like for the same reasons everyone else has given (vacations, stories behind the lighthouse).

Living in the Midwest we are really limited as to which lighthouses we can see. We also have a problem with not enough curio space. As much as I love HL, Roy has to share what space we do have with my other collectibles.

I guess for me the answer is to spend wisely and thoughtfully. If we avoid buying on impulse we can manage to collect what we want. As for the production of too many HL at one time I would have to agree with you. I too have a friend that owns every piece manufactured by David Winter. More power to him. I am glad that he can do that. It's just not where I plan on going with any collection and I know that Roy agrees with me. There has to be a limit on things and each person needs to decide for themselves what that limit is.

Most important of all is the friendships that Roy and I have made through HL. If for any reason we are not able to purchase HL in the future we will definitly maintain contact with this website. I can't imagine not keeping in contact with so many wonderful people. There is no mistaking the quality of people who visit this website. Anyone who shares a common interest in such a worthy topic (love of lighthouses) is truely someone worth knowing.

Thank you for affording me the opportunity to learn from you and share my thoughts.

Sincerely,

Carolyn McBee

posted 08-02-2000 08:12 PM            

It was 1993 and, as with many of you, MJ and I started out by buying one we had visited (St. Augustine, FL). One became two and we became hooked. We had to have all of them and visit as many as we could (still planning vacations around them). Of course we also had to buy all the books we could get our hands on, mucho postcards and a zillion photographs. We joined several lighthouse societies, foundations and clubs.

I remember seeing Coquille River (LE) on the dealers shelf but didn't buy it because there were others we were more fond of and had to have first. Suddenly, #111 retired and I had the opportunity to buy it for ten times what I could have gotten it for at the store (we passed on this due to lack of funds and the fact that "I'm not going to spend several hundred dollars on something I could have gotten for under $100").

The GLOWS were starting to be produced but before they hit the shelves I was telling MJ that "I'm not going to buy them, I'll only collect the Limited Editions." FYI, we have purchased all of the GLOWS to date, just because we "like" them.

Many times I have wondered why I was so addicted to collecting Harbour Lights and have thought about stopping. We were running out of room to display them in the three curios that we had purchased just for HLs.

In Oct. we sold our house to our son and his family and are presently residing in it with them while we get our condo ready to move into. Needless to say all of the HLs are in storage (as there isn't any room for them here now). But that hasn't slowed down the buying.

I told MJ that we weren't going to buy the "This Little Light of Mine" series. While visiting Collectors World on Cape Cod this past May we viewed them for the first time. We fell in love with them from the start and MJ suggested that, since we were moving to a condo, we could just collect the little ones and sell all of the big ones. It is still a possibility (sometime down the road) but right now we are still buying ALL THAT HL IS MAKING (ornaments included).

We probably won't have room for all of them in the condo but we keep buying. We even thought that we would keep the storage bin we have rented (to store our belongings while getting the condo ready) and, after we move, "rotate" our collection from time to time, keeping those not displayed in the storage bin.

There will probably come a time when we will have to stop collecting Harbour Lights and just enjoy the collection we have amassed. Maybe there will come a day when we decide to sell the collection (or will be forced to). But, for now anyway, we still enjoy collecting Harbour Lights and being part of the Harbour Lights Family and don't know when it will end or when we will get the next urge to quit.

posted 08-03-2000 08:24 AM            

It's strange that this topic should come up at this point in my life, but I think I shall never collect Harbour Lights again. On Sunday, June 25th I had a fire at my apartment complex which completely destroyed my apartment and all of my Harbour Lights. The greatest loss though, was my fiance of five years which was trying to help me extinguish the fire when she became trapped inside the apartment.

Harbour Lights was "our" collectible and I just don't think I can find the enthusiasm that I once did to collect them without her.

I do have one very special piece that I will keep that she bought at the Sanders Country Store event in Savannah. I purchased HOTM and she decided to buy the open edition Hatteras and have Bill sign it. When she asked Bill to sign it, she said to him "Mark's getting the Hatteras on the move, but mine's just standing still". I think Bill was tickled and signed it with his name and below it put "standing still". I will cherish this piece forever.

posted 08-03-2000 01:31 PM            

The question asked by Deb is one that I'm sure we have all thought about from time to time.(especially when you have the entire collection) A year and a half ago I was building a new house and moving. With all the extra expenses of a new home I kept thinking maybe I should quit buying the new 1999 HL's. I didn't buy for a while but after six months I suddenly thought how much I was missing not getting the new ones. It took me through Nov. 99 to catch them all up again.

I still love seeing my lighthouses every day and enjoy reading about them and still planning vacations around seeing ones that I haven't visited. It is quite interesting that so many people see something related to lighthouses and they immediately call me or mail clippings to me.

posted 08-03-2000 10:58 PM            

_____________________________________________

On a different note,
I only started collecting HL's in January 2000. I now have 13 lights with my wife now putting on the brakes. I enjoy the lights, the camaraderie on the chat room, and these forums. Bill and co. offer a lot to us which I am not sure is matched by other cmpanies.
I will continue to collect when feasible and rather bemoaning not collecting earlier I think of those who will begin collecting at a later date who will have more ground to cover. I enjoy the lighthouses (both scultured & real) with my two daughters) who may continue not only our hobby but also serve to carry on the torch. Will this future demand by newcomers be enough to spur price increases--who knows, but I enjoy these lights for what they are--beautiful sculptures and symbols of our past. I truly look forward to any reunion that may take place. In a way this forum & society does share a lot and I wanted to add my thoughts in as well.