Come climb aboard my magic carpet for a trip to the USSR, compliments of Don Fiene of Knoxville, Tennessee, who sent in the following account of his most recent adventure.

SOVIET INSULATOR REPORT, 1988
by Don Fiene

The spirit of GLASNOST was stronger in 1988 in the Soviet Union than in any previous year -- a year which also marked the one-thousandth anniversary of the establishment of Christianity in Russia. Whether these things have any relationship to the successful liberation of insulators, I cannot say -- but this year's trip to the USSR was my most successful one yet from the point of view of the Great Hobby. I led a group of fifty people (ranging in age from fifteen to eighty) from Leningrad to Moscow via Yalta, Odessa and Kishinev (the capital of Moldavia), with an overnight stay in Zurich on the return leg. The trip lasted eighteen days -- June 5-22.

This year I found nothing in Leningrad, nor did I run into any teen-age boys who might have been willing to trade insulators and porcelain signs for some of the army insignia and small American flags I had brought with me.

When we landed at the airport in Simferopol, Crimea, we were met by two local college boys who acted as volunteer guides for our group, accompanying us on the sixty-mile ride south over the mountains to the sub-tropical Black Sea coast. During the bus journey, I showed these lads, one of whom lived in Yalta, my insulator photographs. They practically fell out of their seats laughing over this strange American hobby -- and they went into total rapture when they came to the photo of me climbing a pole like a cat, back in the days when I was even more of a hippie than I am now. They swore to me that within twenty-four hours they would get me all the insulators I wanted. We were staying in Yalta for three days at a first-class resort; the water of the sea was crystal clear.

During supper the next night word was passed to me that my comrades were waiting for me in the lobby with a huge wooden box. I rushed out to meet them.

The box was indeed huge, full of insulators, and almost too heavy for one person to lift. I was at once ecstatic and terrified; I had to have them all, yet how could I wrestle those suckers through five more airports (both arriving and leaving), on top of all other baggage. (My wife, Judith, was traveling with me.) Finally I got serious and tossed out two transformer insulators and reduced the weight by half. However, I kept a ten-inch-diameter sombrero of light-green glass, with Cyrillic writing all over it, including the desired phrase, "Made in the USSR." There were also two pair of smaller green glass power insulators; one pair was close to CD 540 (being 3-1/8" x 4-1/8") and the other pair was CD 247.5. These were duplicates for me, and like gold in the bank.

Probably the most interesting of the fourteen items in the box was a small white porcelain 3-5/16 high, being a blue underglaze mark of the Imperial two-headed eagle. (See accompanying drawing and photo; there is also a picture of the same insulator in CD, June 1981, page 5, but I cannot find the assigned U-number). This is the first probably pre-revolutionary Russian insulator I have discovered.

Don, the little white porcelain insulator with the holes through the ears has been catalogued in the Style Chart as U- 1784. It is pictured on page 5 of the June, 1981 issue of Crown Jewels, as you said. In that article was your account of the insulators you brought back from the USSR in 1978 and you loaned me several of them, including the U- 1784, so I could take dimension and get shadow profiles. That particular specimen had only an incuse number 5 on the side of the crown. How interesting to find one marked with the Imperial two-headed eagle! Your new find is just a tad taller than the drawing in the U-Chart, and so won't warrant a new assignment You can simply refer to it as "similar to" U- 1784. The other two porcelains you included drawings of here may be up for new U-numbers. -- MARILYN

Other white porcelain items in the box included a small knob 15/16" x 7/8"; a piece similar to U-1633, except 2" x 2-5/8"; an unmarked piece similar to U-1654, but 2-3/8" x 3-1/4"; an item similar to U-1710, but 3" x 4-3/8", with an incuse circle on the crown bearing the last two digits on the date. There was also a heavy tapered cylinder used in anchoring trolley-car support wires to buildings and poles. (See drawing of one of the same size in Crown Jewels, September, 1984, page 7). Another insulator probably used for the same purpose was an untapered cylinder 2-3/4" x 2-7/8". It and the previous item bear the same blue underglaze mark: 'Made in the USSR" (CAEAHO B CCCP) in an arc, within which is an insulator symbol containing a number, and below that is the year.

I gave the boys all my military junk and the flags, which they were glad to have, but they certainly were not looking for payment. They told me they had obtained almost all the insulators from an old war veteran who worked as a guard at the main power station in the city. He liked the idea of helping out an American who had a hobby he could relate to.

The next day (our last in Yalta), the boys introduced me to the guard. He was afraid to let me inside the complex, but he took one of the boys back; they soon returned with another insulator for me -- a giant brown porcelain piece that would have made a good boat anchor. I took it out of politeness. (See accompanying drawing below). The boys told me the guard wanted to give me three more insulators -- large, and of amber glass, but they were in use. He would not be able to change them out until the new shift came on (in which he had a friend) at midnight. I thanked the guard and told him I would return. However, the boys told me there was something strange about the guard. He was too dangerously careless about his job and probably he was an alcoholic also. They advised me not to go back; probably the guard would be caught by one of his superiors and then I would get in trouble, too. I took their advice, but with regret.

I found no insulators either in Odessa or Kishinev, and in Moscow I had only one opportunity to go hunting -- on our next to last night in the city. My college-age son was along on this trip, too. (I got three free fares worth $2500 apiece from the tour company for rounding up fifty passengers). Anyhow, Bruce and I took a four or five mile hike, on a nice cool rainy evening, along the main tracks leading out from Riga Station. There were thousands of desirable glass insulators overhead, but none on the ground. However, I did find two broken crossarms in a ditch. From one I took another U-1654 and from the other I took the medium-sized brown porcelain power insulator described here in an accompanying drawing. I could have had another one, but left it. I was really just looking for glass. Toward the end of our hike, I found three high-voltage warning signs covered with tar and creosote (Nice for the suitcases.) Two were porcelain.

I felt almost depressed over these marvelous new finds. How could I ever get all that junk out of the country? True, I had gotten through every X-ray check at the internal airports we had passed through, but Moscow's International control was a different story.

My son was kind enough to take my heaviest porcelain insulator in his duffel bag. This represented a sacrifice, as he was hoping to smuggle out an almost complete navy uniform. The insulator might call unwanted attention to him. However, as it turned out, the customs personnel were not interested in any of us. They let all fifty of us go through without opening a single suitcase or even looking at any of them on their X-ray screens. Now that may not be GLASNOST, but I give three cheers for it anyhow. Meanwhile, over the past ten years, I have taken seventy-five or more insulators out of the USSR, retaining about sixty for my collection. If I said it has been a piece of cake all the way, I'd by lying -- but it's gotten easier lately. Regardless, no one but me could have done it. I hate to brag, but let's face it....

Some of the Soviet-Russian insulators obtained on Don's trip to the USSR in June.

(Picture on Next Page to the Right) The sign with the skull is rusted sheet iron, partially restored (should be black & white with red arrow). It says: DO NOT CLIMB -- IT KILLS. The porcelain sign at lower right says: HIGH VOLTAGE -- DANGER. At the bottom of the sign is a telephone number and the arrow is red.

The sign at the top in the photo (Below) is white on blue and identifies "9th Soviet St." The remaining signs, likewise porcelain, were all found in old apartment houses in Leningrad. 
Upper Left: black on white, Respect the Work of the Janitor -- Be Neat.
Center: black on white, List of Rules for the Janitor 
Lower Left: blue on white, Conserve Heat (that is, close the door).
Bottom: white on blue, List of Apartment Numbers off Stairway #6.

Thanks very much for sharing with us, Don. It is great fun imagining you in all those various situations trying to scarf up insulators. And yes, I think you're right, no one but you could have done it!

In my August column, I promised to show you three foreign signs. The ones from the USSR you have already seen here. Don brought back a duplicate of the black and white sign with the red arrow and this is now in my collection. It is neat.

The sign to the right is from France. It is made of heavy cast aluminum and red paint has been applied only to the background, causing the letters and the border to appear silvery. The words read "ELECTRICITY OF FRANCE - IT IS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN TO TOUCH THESE LINES (or wires) EVEN IF THEY HAVE FALLEN TO THE GROUND. DANGER OF DEATH." I have this same sign in two smaller sizes, both of which are meant to attach to power line poles. One is round and the other is oval. The words are the same.

The sign pictured above is of sheet iron with a white enamel background and black letters. The arrow is red. The words at the top are Dutch and they say "LIFE THREATENING -- HIGH VOLTAGE." I'm assuming, but I'm not sure, that the rest of the words are also Dutch. Loosely translated they are "DANGER OF DEATH BY ELECTROCUTION."

Speaking of France, let's go there next time, and see what kind of a time was had by Andy Gibson and Bill Snell last summer when they took a trip through France, Belgium and Germany. These young fellows, both of Rochester, New York, reported seeing some amazing insulators!