Matt Gauron and his sister, Stephanie, show off their insulator discovery to Linda Banks. Matt got a major boost in his new hobby of insulator collecting when his dad made a tremendous discovery at a thrift store.

Matt's dad was at a Disabled American Veterans thrift store in their hometown of Colorado Springs, CO when he asked if they had any insulators. He was told they had a barrel full, all wrapped up in old newspapers. Dad was able to buy the whole barrel for the asking price of $20.

Later, at home, they unwrapped purple insulators, green insulators, and carnival glass. There were power insulators, telephone insulators, and telegraph insulators. Linda and I visited Matt to take pictures for this article. We observed cornflower blue McLaughlins, and a great WGM CD 162 in purple with a monster bubble and in near mint condition. There were several dozen very desirable insulators, and many more common varieties.

Obviously, someone had collected long ago and then stored the insulators in a barrel. Then, the barrel was donated to the thrift store. And Matt's dad was just lucky enough to locate them before anyone else.

Sometimes collecting is a matter of timing. If a junk shop, antique shop or thrift store doesn't have any insulators this time... visit them again in a few weeks. And keep going back. Sometime you may just be blessed to make a great discovery at an even greater bargain. Happy hunting.