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The holiday season is upon us and this is a wonderful time of year for the Harbour Lights collectors. With family and friends coming together, this gives them the opportunity to display their revered lighthouse collection for all to enjoy.

Harbour Lights has joined in the season by making a tradition since 1995 of creating an annual Christmas piece.

The first Christmas lighthouse in the series was Big Bay Point, Michigan. Its exquisite structure sits on a rocky bluff overlooking Lake Superior. As the years passed, this lighthouse has become a charming Bed & Breakfast.

Harbour Lights sculpture of Big Bay Point was limited to an edition size of 5,000 and is full of detail, from a snow-covered roof, to the building being draped with Christmas wreath and garland entwined with red ribbon over the entrance ways. Look closely, and you will see the tiny footprints of children left in the snow. This piece surely evokes the spirit of the season. If this lighthouse is not part of your collection, be prepared to pay up to three times its original retail price on the secondary market, but its well worth the cost.

The next in the series, Colchester Reef, Vermont was actually the choice of Nancy Younger of Harbour Lights.

December of 1871, was the beginning of service for the Colchester Reef Light. The growth of the Canadian lumber industry transporting goods through this area made it necessary to warn of the potential hazards of three treacherous reefs that lie near the approach of Burlington Harbor.

Harbour Lights replica pronounces these cold Vermont winter days with the piece depicted on its original reef base.

Colchester Reef light was moved in 1952 to the Shelbourne Museum for restoration and preservation. When Nancy Younger visited this museum she purchased a little book, Life in the Colchester Reef Lighthouse, and Bill Younger thought it would be a great addition to be included with the piece.

The limited edition size on Colchester Reef light was 8,200, making this piece a little easier to find. You may never know, there maybe one sitting on a shelf in a shop somewhere. If found on the secondary market the price range would be generally around $150.

Last year's exclusive Christmas piece, White Shoal Light, Michigan, limited to an edition size of 8,000, will be marveled by collectors for years to come. The off shore light station was built on a large concrete foundation and the tower is boldly painted with red and white candy stripes. Harbour Lights has taken the artistic liberty with this piece by including a Coast Guard icebreaker. This is not an uncommon sight in early spring. White Shoals was traditionally a seasonal lighthouse.

From 1910 to 1983, this lighthouse has warned navigators of the shallows known as White Shoal. This lighthouse is no longer active, but its day marks are still utilized by sailors and fishermen.

Christmas '98 is here and the Harbour Lights collector will be able to unwrap Old Field Point, New York, this year's addition to the Christmas series. This beacon was established 1868 and displays all the charm of the nineteenth century. This lighthouse marked the entrance to Port Jefferson Harbor until 1933.

Old Field Point Lighthouse had been reactivated in 1991 by the persistence of the proud citizens and historians of the local area. Harbour Lights rendition no doubt displays all the winter holiday charm with its fresh coating of snow accenting this piece, which is limited to an edition size of 10,000.

Old Field Point light is the fourth in the series of holiday replicas and will surely become a sought after collectible in the years to come.

The Christmas series has provided the collectors a festive way to enhance their collection for the season. It has also lets us take a moment, to appreciate the inspiration of the individuals and their families that endured more than a few harsh winters, but still had brought warmth and joy to many isolated locations through out the nation.

Happy Holidays!

Matt Rothman is the owner of Lighthouse Trading Company, which is the original and leading source specializing in the secondary market of Harbour Lights. He can be contacted by mail at 112, Elio Circle, Limerick. PA 19468 or calling him at (610) 409-9336. Email LHTRADE1 @aol.com

This story appeared in the December 1998 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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