I had this article already written and ready to go when I realized that I might have a flaw in it that would make it all backwards. When comparing C.D. 161 and 162 signals with other collectors, they all told me I had the two backwards. Insisting I had it right, and they had it backwards, I wrote to the person who would know best, Mr. N. R. Woodward. He too told me I had it all backwards. O.K., I'll swallow my pride, you guys were right, but I don't think I'll ever get used to calling "my" 162 a 161 and vice versa.

So, here we go. The same article with all the numbers rearranged. 

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There are six different C.D. numbered CALIFORNIA signals: the single skirted 133 and 134, the C.D. 161 and its narrow groove companion the C.D. 162, the wide groove 166 (of which there are two varieties), and, of course, the C.D. 160 "Baby Signal".

The C.D. 133 is one of the few CALIFORNIA styles that I have seen in PEACH. I have seen three of them, and all three were a fairly light color, with the yellow and purple separated in spots, making a super neat looking insulator. The only one that I saw sell took sixty dollars. When I asked about the other two I was told they WERE NOT for sale. AQUA is a common color with the 133, and I see them on sales lists described as "SAGE GREEN" for about the same price as the AQUA one (right around ten dollars), but as of this time I have yet to see one in any green. PURPLE is the most desirable color for the 133. Purples range from a medium smoky purple to a deep burgundy. The darkest one I've seen is the darkest purple CALIFORNIA I have ever seen in any style. This one belongs to a local lineman who took it down years ago somewhere in southern California. Someone told him it was worth $500, so every attempt I've made to buy or trade it from him at reasonable market price of $50-$75 has failed. I've pushed a hundred and a half worth of goodies and cash at him, but no go. He wants $500. And until I start using 500 dollar bills to light my cigars he's going to be hanging on to that gem. 

The C.D. 134 and the C.D. 161 are identical in outer design shape, the only difference being that someone forgot to put inner skirts in the 134's before they were shipped from the factory. I don't have one of these, but after looking over other collectors' 134's I would feel safe to say they were cast in the same mold cup, simply using a different collar on the plunger that produced an open interior section and a flat collar on the threads. There is one other "small" difference between these two: scarcity and value. The C.D. 161 is second only to the C.D. 152 in being the most common CALIFORNIA style, while the C.D. 134 CALIFORNIA falls into the "goodie" category, fetching 40 to 50 dollars on sales tables when in good shape. So far I have only seen the C.D. 134 in a bluish AQUA. I have reports of purple ones, but have yet to see one. Anybody have one of these and have the time, pencil, and paper to tell me about it? Maybe you have other colors? Let's hear some chatter.

The C.D. 161 comes in one of the widest varieties of colors of any CALIFORNIA style: BLUE, a wide variety of greens, YELLOW, CLEAR (I mean crystal clear!), SMOKE, SMOKE-PURPLE, and purples from light rose to deep burgundy. I have never given more than six dollars for a C.D. 161 CALIFORNIA. Since it is such a common style, even the good colors (excepting yellow) sell for between one and ten dollars. The yellow comes in right around 25 to 35 clams in good shape. For some reason, I've managed to miss the C.D. 161 in a plain old dull aqua, or even a nice shiny aqua, for that matter. I am sure they exist in quantity. I guess I have always mistaken them for HEMINGRAYS or something. 

Although most C.D. 161's are fairly common, there is one that is one of the rarest of all CALIFORNIAS. This one has sharp drip points on the base. Before I saw one of these, I could not imagine a CALIFORNIA with drip points. For some reason, I pictured CALIFORNIA making their own style of drip points that were square and had the four sides coming to a nice sharp point. I was destined for a disappointment with that vision. CALIFORNIA "drippers" come with nice big sharp drip points that are very much similar to those that commonly come on "BROOKFIELD N.Y." embossed signals. These nice big drips are unfortunately the kind that break easily and often take a section of the skirt with them, so most of the few drip pointers there are in collectors hands are pretty broken up. There are just over a dozen of these chaps around, making them quite rare and quite valuable, even when damaged. So far, I've seen two of these. One was yellow-green, and the other a smoke-purple. A dealer who has had most of these go through his hands told me that those were the two basic colors found. I had a deal going on one of the better ones (condition wise) for $475. I have heard of them as low as $300 and as high as $600. This is one of those insulators you can't really shop around for, so if you want it, you pay the price. To me, six bills is a LOT of money to sink into one piece of glass, but good glass means good amounts of money. Oh well, I can go without eating for a while! By the way, this style is the only CALIFORNIA style that has been found armed with drip points. 

The C.D. 162 has more color variety than any other style in my collection. I have BLUE, AQUA (the darkest aqua CALIFORNIA I have seen), three varieties of green: SAGE, YELLOW-GREEN, and YELLOW-GREEN-SMOKE, YELLOW, CLEAR, SMOKE, and purples from light rose to deep burgundy. Of the eight basic colors, I have seven. I have yet to see this one in peach. Like the C.D. 161's, the C.D. 162's are a common style and don't seem to command too high prices on sales tables. I paid 40 dollars for my yellow one and saw one on a list for 25, so I would say 25-35 dollars would be the going price for these. All the others go for about one to six dollars in these parts. I must make note that these sales table quotes are from here in CALIFORNIA country, where I am sure they are a bit more plentiful than back east. These quotes may not be totally accurate all over the country, but they are fairly close. Comparing them with sales lists from back east, I see that prices don't vary too much.

One of the unique CALIFORNIA styles is the C.D. 166. Being one of my favorites, I've managed to get quite a variety of these. I still don't have a BLUE one, but I do have AQUA, SAGE AQUA, SAGE GREEN, GREEN-SMOKE, YELLOW-SMOKE, YELLOW, SMOKE, SMOKE-PURPLE, and a nice medium PURPLE. I've yet to see a CLEAR one or a dark purple one. The insulators I just described all have a funny number embossed on them. Centered 1/8" above "CALIFORNIA" is "A 011". I believe this to be a style number, as different numbers come on three other styles. I'll get back to these numbers later. 

The "A 011" embossed 166 is a little bit more common than the other variety of 166. I call the other variety the "round top" simply because the "A 011" has such a squared looking dome by contrast. The "round top" only comes in AQUA as far as I can tell. I have two in my collection. One is a darker aqua than the other, but I've never seen one in any other color than aqua. "A 011's" hang out in the five to ten buck range. Yellow, always being the exception, runs in the 25 to 35 dollar category. I got my beautiful mint gold one for 20 dollars. A good deal, I thought. The green and aqua "A 011's" are on the low end of the price range. I've managed to get a few of these for one or two bucks in good shape, while smokes and purples run on the high end. Ten dollars is the most I've paid for an "A 011" embossed C.D. 166; however, I've seen them priced much higher. 

The "round top" goes for between ten and fifteen dollars. If you shop around, you can find them for five. I got one out of the bottom of a box of insulators at an antique shop for $.25 years ago. Still have that one. To me, these "round tops" look like one of the earlier CALIFORNIA products. When you put one up beside an "A 011", the "round top" definitely looks older. I think companies using the "round top" had trouble with them fracturing in the wire groove and dropping the skirt section down onto the crossarm. An awful lot of these have been found in two pieces. This may be why the "A 011" was introduced, to be the successor to the earlier "round top". 

The C.D. 160 "baby signal" is another favorite of mine. The full variety of colors in these is tough to get. I have seen them in BLUE, AQUA, GREEN, SAGE GREEN, GREEN-SMOKE, YELLOW, CLEAR, SMOKE, SMOKE-PURPLE, and a variety of purples. I always seem to be broke when any of these are up for sale, so I don't have too many. I do have some lists I can take prices off of that make pretty good guides: BLUE, $25; AQUA, $25-30; GREEN, $20; YELLOW, $25; CLEAR, $7-10; SMOKE, $5-10; SMOKE-PURPLE, $7-10; and GOOD PURPLES, $10-25, depending on color. A lot of these guys have the pin hole stopping about an inch from the dome, leaving them with a nice thick head of solid glass. This can make a nice colored one quite beautiful with good lighting behind it. Another thing I like about these is that some come with scads of tiny bubbles in them. With the right lighting they almost seem to glow.

I am not sure what I will get into next time around. I'll just surprise you.

Good Collecting,
Brent