Letters to the Editor
Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire",, November 1970, page 22
Portion of letter from Jim & Sue Smaller:
At the present time, I don't have a spare CD 161
Calif. with drips, but have high hopes that we may find some more. Rip
West and myself found a total of 4 & one-half of those dandies. We
kept one each for our own Calif. collections and traded the two and one-half for
California jewels that we didn't have.
I acquired the following from my drip: Calif. Hot
Cross (CD 208), purple; Calif. CD 200, Single Tramp, purple: Calif. Freak (CD
187); Calif. Baby Signal (CD160), aqua; Calif.
Beehive (CD 145), purple; Calif. Keg (CD 112), smoke; Calif. Deep Groove (CD
166), Plum!
I made two other good swaps while at the Barstow
show. I swapped a beautiful blue green (CD 152) Calif. hoop skirt
for 7 baby signals (CD 160), including four distinctively different colored
Californias. Also traded one of my drop wires (Dry Spot) for H.G. Single Tramp,
aqua; purple Canadian B-hive (CD 145); Aqua No Name Helmet; and burgundy Calif.
Deep Groove (CD 166)!
Mr. West and I met so many nice people at the
show and as always, everyone cannot be lucky, and Rip and I are truly sorry that
we didn't have enough Calif. with drips to go around.
Also will mention that I collector ERRORS and
ODDITIES. Have found the following:
CD 145 -- W. Brookfield-45
Cliff-Signal (Brookfield spelled Brookfild)
CD 162 or CD 164 -- Brookfield (on skirt), New York-Signal
(Brookfield smeared on dome)
CD 145 -- Brookfield, New York-B-Hive (Double stamped New York)
CD 145 -- Brookfield, New York-B-Hive (Double 9 on dome)
CD 145 -- W. Brookfield-B-Hive (Carpet tack enclosed in dome)
CD 134 -- Brookfield-Signal (No inner skirt) (Brookfield spelled
Brookfifed)
CD 145 -- B-Beehive (Double smeared "b" and glob of metal
enclosed)
CD 106 -- Hemingray 9 (Backward 9 in 1893)
CD 145 -- H.G.CO. Double Petticoat (H.G. Co. double smear)
CD 102 -- Hemingray 14 stamped over A.T.& T. Co.
CD 162 -- Lynchburg 36 with milk glass swirls
CD 154 -- McLaughlin 42 (backward 2 in 42)
A portion of a letter from Gerald and Esta
Brown:
We have just returned from an
"insulatoring" trip to the eastern part of the U.S.
The terminus of the trip was Washington, D.C.,
where we visited the Smithsonian Institution. For some time we have been
curious about the insulators in that museum. Although we had communicated
with the people there, we had been unable to find out much about the
matter. So we decided that the way to find out was to go and see.
The collection of insulators there was not large,
but they do have several old and rare ones. There is no public display of insulators
at the present time, but a room is being prepared for a communications display,
which will show the development of electric communications, such as telegraph
and telephones. The room for all this will probably be ready by mid-1971.
We were able to make arrangements for a long
range plan to give the Smithsonian a large portion of our collection.
Soon, we will send them a hundred or so to use in the telegraph display.
These will cover the span of years from about 1850 to the 1930's.
Each insulator will be tagged with information
about the manufacturer, the areas in which they were used and by what company
and for what use.
We will continue to furnish them insulators as needed
for further displays. Also, as we see fit we will furnish insulators for
the archives, where they will e preserved for record and research. This will
consist of even the common ones.
We consider this a privilege and honor; to have
our historical JEWELS where millions of people will see them.
Please, collectors, don't quit coming to see us
and our collection. We promise to keep it worth coming to see. Many
of our rare ones may be non-mint or good specimens that display well.
| 
