Insulators In Color

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", November 1987, page 29

PAGE 29 TOP LEFT:	CD 134.4	Unembossed Pettingell Andrews, dark emerald green Purchased from Jack Riesselman. Piece was originally owned by Rod Ladd, N. Scituate, Massachusetts. Owner: Duane Davenport, Albuquerque, New Mexico
TOP RIGHT:	CD 106	HEMINGRAY/NO. 9, PATENT/MAY 2, 1893, sharp drips. This piece is a dark blue violet. It was purchased at the 1987 Las Vegas Bottle Show from Mike Bliss, Idaho Springs, Colorado. Mike had gotten the piece from the Rod Ladd collection when he helped Jack Riesselman unwrap the shipment. "Out of the 100 or so purples in my collection, the CD 106 is by far my favorite." Owner: Richard Dawson, Anaheim, California
CENTER:	CD 724	All are unembossed Chesters. The "Peach" was acquired from Jay Turner (now deceased) of Massachusetts at a bottle show in 1979. The "Cobalt," the last added to my collection and the "easiest" of the three to find, walked into a bottle show in a brown paper bag! The "Lemon-Yellow" was part of the Hope Bower's collection from Trumansburg, New York. It was acquired from her in the summer of 1985. No other information was available on how she acquired it. Owner of all three: Dick Bowman, Webster, New York
LOWER LEFT:	CD 700	A Threadless Egg in purple. This piece was purchased at the 1980 Herkimer, New York National Show from the collection owned by Margaret Griffin Gregory. (Margaret's husband, Fred, was the first president of the NIA. Fred is now deceased.) "Shirley didn't attend that show, so I took that 'goodie' home for her collection." Owners: Pat & Shirley Patocka, Penryn, California
LOWER RIGHT:	CD 106	R.AYALA.L in golden amber. This piece originally came from Roger Sanford, a wealthy semi-retired ranchman, turned insulator collector, who maintained a Hacienda in Cloete, Coahula, Mexico. He had lived there for 26 years when he contacted N.R. Woodward (Houston) in 1968. Sanford would trade the same insulator in aqua to Woody. The amber was one that he had given his granddaughter, a resident of Austin, Texas. Sanford bought and sold railroad cars, and would accompany men in the "work cars" to go out to look for insulators. AYALA is as common a name in Mexico as is Smith or Jones in the U.S. The "R" is for the man's first name, and the "L" is the first letter of his mother's maiden name. It is a common practice for men to write their names this way in Mexico. The AYALA fellow could have owned a small glass factory, but it is not known who made the insulator or where. "It's one of my dearest loves." Owner: Marilyn Albers, Houston, Texas
PAGE 30 TOP LEFT:	CD 130.1	SEILER'S PATENT/FEB. 6-1877 in aqua blue. This is one of those "most sought after" pieces by West Coast collectors. Rex Vaughan of Anderson, California, sold the piece at the 1987 National show to Darrell Moore.
TOP RIGHT:	CD 123	E.C.&M. CO. S.F. in olive green. "I found this piece under about 6 inches of pine needles at the base of a pinion pine tree. The tree was on the old line that ran from Aurora to Candelaria in Nevada." Owner: Glenn Yows, Upper Lake, California
CENTER LEFT:	CD 158.2	BOSTON BOTTLE WORKS-PATENT OCT. 15, 72 in amber. "This piece was a birthday present from my friend, Cecil Boos of Cumberland, Iowa. I can imagine all the collectors will send Cecil their birth dates!!" Owner: Ray Klingensmith, E. Orwell, Ohio
CENTER RIGHT:	CD 130	CAL. ELEC. WORKS/PATENT in a light aqua blue. The insulator has amber and olive "oil streaks" throughout. It was purchased from the collection of Bob Jackson, Woodland, California.  Owner: Glenn Yows, Upper Lake, California
LOWER LEFT:	CD 161	CALIFORNIA in multi-tone aqua. "It is one of the best multi-tones 161's I've seen out of a number that came out of the San Francisco Bay area. The tones are all of the most common California manufactured colors--sage green and plum sun-colored amethyst in an uncommon, pleasing blend." Owner: Duane Davenport, Albuquerque, New Mexico
LOWER RIGHT:	CD 123	E.C.&M.CO. in a beautiful bubbly blue. "I bought this piece from the 1979 National Show Host Keith Ornbaum. Keith, now deceased, had a wonderful E.C.&M. collection." Owner: Glenn Yows, Upper Lake, California
PAGE 31 TOP LEFT:	CD 125	W.U./5, PATENT/DEC. 19, 1871 in olive green. "I purchased the insulator from Clarice Gordon, one of my San Diego, California, collecting buddies, about 2 1/2 years ago. She had just purchased Bert Fewins' collection here in San Diego and probably regrets now that she sold the insulator so quickly."  Owner: Bruce Young, San Diego, California
TOP RIGHT:	CD 151	H.G.CO, PETTICOAT in amber. "This piece was part of an Ohio collection purchased during the past year. In order to convince the editor of CROWN JEWELS that the man who had owned the piece paid very little for it, I left the price tag in the pinhole to see what her reaction to it would be. 'You've got to be kidding??? $12.00!!!?!?' Owner: Ray Klingensmith, E. Orwell, Ohio
CENTER LEFT:	CD 735	Embossed on crown in an arc: TILLOTSON CO. and on the skirt in an arc: 16 BROADWAY/N.Y. in a dark olive. "I acquired the piece 2 1/2 years ago from Bert Kirkland who found the piece on the Collins Line. Over the years of my searching of the line, I found one with a few pieces that were missing. They are a tough color to find." Owner: Larrin Wanechek, Cle Elum, Washington
CENTER RIGHT:	CD 700.1	Unembossed Egg in blue. Owner: Pat & Shirley Patocka, Penryn, California
LOWER LEFT:	U1542	in red glaze. Yes, folks, there is a red insulator! This one is an English insulator. It has "LMS" incused around the top along with the Bullers' trademark. It was made in a 1939 mold. Bullers made insulators for a variety of railroad companies and this one was produced for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway; hence, the "LMS" mark. Owner: Lu Farin, Decatur, Texas
LOWER RIGHT:	CD 723	Dots and Dashes WADE in the original wooden cover. If you look very closely, you will see in the left side of the wooden cover an arrowhead. This piece was found in 1979 in western Nebraska still on a pole. It looks like the cover accomplished what it was intended to do-to help protect the glass insert from the Indians. It's an age old hunter's story: "You should have seen all the insulators we use to shoot off the wires when hunting...." Owner: John Hall & Darrell Halik, Pearland, Texas
PAGE 32 TOP LEFT:	CD 601.2	FIDENZA/222 in purple. A thorough discussion of this beauty from Trento, Italy, can be found in the September, 1987 issue in Marilyn Albers' "Foreign Insulators" column. It was "on loan" to Marilyn for "show 'n tell" at the Fresno National Show. Bill Ginn, Houston, Texas, borrowed the piece for Marilyn to study and share and remind her "Thou shalt not covet...!"
TOP RIGHT:	CD 113	WESTINGHOUSE/NO. 4 in peacock blue. This piece was part of John McDougald's collection and found a new home during the lottery drawing at the Eastern Regional last month. John purchased the insulator from Roy Galloway, Winchester, Kentucky, "many years’ ago."  Owner: Chuck Haymond, Hobe Sound, Florida
CENTER LEFT:	CD 160.7	AM. INSULATOR CO. N.Y. DOUBLE PETTICOAT PAT'D SEPT. 13, 1881 NOV. 13, 1883 FEB. 15, 1884 in a 7-up green “If you're old enough to remember Paul Kelly of Indiana, you can picture him coming up to you at the end of a show and handing you an insulator and saying, 'You need this in your collection.' Well, I must have passed his table at least a hundred times and fondled this piece just as many at the National Show in Reno, Nevada. I couldn't resist Paul's offer! I bought it and it was sold as part of the lottery sale last month." -- John McDougald  Owner: Richard Gay, Worcester, Massachusetts
CENTER RIGHT:		This piece is nicknamed "The Haley" in honor of the original owner. It takes a standard pin and is an opaque slag glass. It is manufactured with cullet of various colors thrown into a white milkglass base which gives it a variegation of swirling hues. "I purchased this in 1981 from Jack Riesselman and it is one of the more unusual pieces in my collection." Owner: John Hall, Pearland, Texas
LOWER LEFT:	CD 134	PATENT DEC. 19, 1871, PATENT MAY 2, 1893 in an incandescent peacock blue. A rare piece in this color any time, but extremely rare with sharp drip points. "This piece was a 'surprise find' at the bottom of a package deal. It was bruised, but a tough hombre to find. It's my favorite insulator color." Owner: Duane Davenport, Albuquerque, New Mexico
LOWER RIGHT:	CD 117	& (embossed with the ampersand mark only) in a dark olive green. This piece is commonly found in the New England area, but usually in the dark green aqua color of most Brookfield manufactured glass. The color is certainly beautiful. Owner: John Hall, Pearland, Texas