O2401

Great Lakes Lighthouses

Split Rock, Lake Superior

Collins Cover Announcement 

GREAT LAKES LIGHTHOUSES

For this popular issue I decided to again approach it from a different perspective as I did for the 1990 Lighthouse stamps. Then, instead of duplicating the lights shown on the stamps in my cachets, I chose instead to present different lighthouses that I found interesting. For this set my decision was to do a series of "Great Lake Vistas" that correspond to the individual lakes as per the picturesque lighthouses shown on each stamp. These bold hand-painted cachets show the wide, beautiful watery expanse of the five gems that nature bestowed upon our country. Also in each COLLINS Cachet I have included a different type vessel from recreational to commercial as it was for the safety of watercraft that these Great Lakes Lighthouses were built.

Split Rock Lighthouse

The construction of the Split Rock Lighthouse was an engineering nightmare. All building materials had to be hoisted by a crane up a 100 foot cliff on which it was erected in the early 1900's. By 1939 it was the most visited lighthouse in the United States. My hand-painted "entire" cachet shows a family enjoying a canoe trip on Lake Superior. They paddle near the shore and on the bank colorful wildflowers grow at the base of a clump of white birch trees on which a bushy gray squirrel scampers.

Further out on the lake, a trio of loons swim on the serene waters. In the distance are looming cliffs toward which the canoe is heading. The whole scene is crowned by a bright sun and its golden reflections caught in a moment of time just before it sets below Superior's horizon. Split Rock Lighthouse stamp. Lake Superior vista cachet. Item #O2401. $10.75.

Autumn 2022 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 21 O2401 to O2405 — Great Lakes Lighthouses (6/17/95)

This set of five lighthouses sold out quite quickly after I first offered them in 1995. The "entire" hand painted cachets all express a feeling of exhilaration in the great outdoors. For Lake Superior, I did a family of three in a canoe hugging the shoreline. Note the large rising sun, the trio of loons, and the squirrel in the white birch cluster. Split Rock Light is the stamp. For Lake Michigan, a small sailboat navigates the breaking waves. A gull has just caught a minnow, and two more hover overhead. Saint Joseph's is the Light for Lake Huron. I show a freighter passing under the bridge as two white-tailed deer look on. The sky is aglow! Spectacle Reef is the Light for Lake Erie. A family in period dress enjoys kite flying on the windy shore. Two sailboats pass in the distance. Marblehead Light stands nearby. For Lake Ontario I show a raccoon at twilight scavenging the shoreline. The setting sun frames a Great Lakes freighter. If you look closely, you'll see the raccoon's mate peering out of a hollow stump. Thirty Mile Point is the Light stamp.