November 2003 Goin To The Dogs

Porcelain insulator specialist Jason Townsend recently came across two marvelous "go-withs" for his collection.

Townsend met someone who mentioned he owned two porcelain dogs that had been made at the Locke insulator factory. The owner said he was an employee at the Locke factory more than fifty years ago.

Townsend found the dogs irresistible, and purchased them as unique, although unofficial, products of the Locke Insulator Company. In selling the dogs to Townsend, the man agreed to sign an affidavit attesting them to be genuine products made at Locke. That notarized statement is pictured below.

Like most any collector, Townsend was excited to show off his purchase. It's true the dogs aren't insulators. However, if the clay was gathered from the floor of the mold room, then these two dogs could easily have been insulators instead.

September 14, 2003

Dear Jason Townsend,

I do attest with this letter that I was employed by Locke Insulator of Baltimore, MD in 1947 as a cost estimator. It was there and at that time that I had these 2 dogs made by a fellow employee, who was known as Big Charlie. He also made the ashtray. Big Charlie was the clean up man in the mold room. He had made an elephant mold and a dog mold. I asked him to make me 2 elephants and 2 dogs, as well as the ashtray. He used the scrap clay that he had gathered from the floor of the mold room.

I know very little about Big Charlie. I do not know his full name or where he was from. He was an African American, very artistic and very kind to me. He was a very likable person.