Bea Lines
by H.G. "Bea" Hyve

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", December 1986, page 18

Living room shelf units with various collections.

Jeff collects general glass and porcelain, and has an outstanding basic collection of both, but says there are dozens more in each category he doesn't have, and has never seen. He concentrates on colors and shapes, and is not much concerned with CD or U numbers or individual values. The only exception to this is for his specialty collections.

Jeff specializes in the Corning-Pyrex insulators manufactured by the Corning Glass Works in Corning, NY. He got hooked after buying a Pyrex 662 in carnival glass, and soon realized that most all of the Pyrex insulators were made in the clear and the carnival glass treatment. He thought it would be a great challenge to get one of each. He started this specialty in late 1973 and it took him until mid-1980 to get all of the available pin-types in both colors. He purchased the 3 largest Pyrex insulators, #'s 553, 663, and 701 in 1974 through an ad in Crown Jewels, and all are in mint condition. Jeff says he always purchases insulators to complement his collection; never in the hopes of reselling. He's strictly a collector.

As far as go-withs are concerned, his ideology is to treat the apartment as one unit to house his collections.. It is furnished with very contemporary furniture, lots of plants, and all of his different antique items throughout. Insulators are in the living room, den, and bedroom. The kitchen is full of glass refrigerator dishes (1935-1945) as canisters, canning jars (1910-1930), milk bottles (1940-1950), flat and sad irons, and Corning-Pyrex glass cookware (1945-1975). The bathroom has 5 shelves of patent medicine bottles. Also around the apartment are about a dozen barn, wagon, and railroad lanterns. He recently started collecting toy automobiles, and he has several from 1920-1960.

Bedroom with various collections.

In the insulator category, he also collect. glass capacitor bushings, because he finds their shapes and colors fascinating. Most are made of crude amber glass, but their simplicity is neat. He has 2 dark yellow-green ones that are beautiful, containing thousands of tiny air bubbles. The rarest one is of very light green vaseline glass, full of swirls and bubbles. These bushings are throughout the apartment because he feels they complement the other items so well. They become quite a conversation starter because so few people know what they are. The nicest compliment Jeff ever received was that it was so interesting to be in his apartment... wherever the person looked, there was something unique to look at.

Various colored refrigerator dishes
used for kitchen counter storage.

Jeff doesn't like decorations or knick-knacks, as such. He's furnished his apartment with a variety of items he finds interesting and different. He says that the insulator shows, local antique shops, and flea markets are so fascinating compared to shopping at the neighborhood plastic mall. Although some collectors have one room set aside for collections, which is ok for them, for Jeff it would seem too much like a museum atmosphere. He tries to live with his collections all around. Also, most of what he collects was originally designed for very specific, utilitarian purposes. Besides the insulators, good examples are the 18-inch railroad car spring he uses for his bedroom doorstop, the one antique telephone he has in each room, and the 10 hanging plants throughout the apartment, all in white depression glass lamp globes. He says that a little imagination can go a long way.

Depression glass lamp globe used as a planter.

Jeff's favorites would be his Corning-Pyrex collection as a whole, because of the time it took to get it all together, and the uniqueness of it. It is one of the two most extensive collections of Pyrex glass in the hobby. He lists his main "want" as the Corning-Pyrex #660 insulator. There is currently only one known, and Jeff's research has shown it to be an experimental unit designed in 1924, of which only 300 were produced. He laments that the odds aren't exactly in his favor. He has 420 insulators in his collection, and 35 capacitor bushings.

Jeff displayed his Corning-Pyrex collection at the national in Herkimer, NY in 1980. This was his first display, plus the very first time all of his Pyrex was together, so to speak. (At the time, he was living in a studio apartment and many of his insulators were in storage). He won First Place Specialty and the Milholland Education Award. After adding a few items and doing a lot of research at the Corning Glass archives, he displayed again at the national in Rochester, NY in 1983. He was given First Place Specialty, the Milholland Education Award, and the George C. Scott Probe Award. At the national in Saratoga Springs, NY, he displayed yellow glaze porcelain insulators, which won the First Place Porcelain and the Milholland Education Awards. Jeff states that, "I was very honored each time because I didn't put the displays together to win anything, but to share the collections and the historical information that goes along with them. The awards show my work was appreciated." Jeff's other hobbies include reading... especially science fiction and historical novels. He also finds bowling relaxing and a lot of fun.

Jeff was involved in putting together the Seldom Seen Display this summer at Saratoga Springs, NY, as one half of the partnership that brought together the most beautiful, expensive, unique, colorful, delightful, and impressive display of glass (and porcelain) insulators ever seen. Never before has such a gorgeous collection of insulators from all over the world been assembled in one place. Not only was it a dream come true for delegates to the national, but it was an education for newly-interested collectors, and the general public, too.

Capacitor bushings and cast iron vehicle toys.

The Seldom Seen Display showed to all the world just what there is in insulator-land. Jeff can truly be proud of his part in such an endeavor.

Another big way in which Jeff has contributed to our hobby is through his superbly-written articles for Crown Jewels. Numbering 7 so far, they have given us a greater insight into Corning-Pyrex insulators. The average person probably cannot realize the amount or time and energy that goes into a research article... so Jeff is to be commended for having given the hobby so many fine articles.

In closing, Jeff says, "After being involved in this hobby for the pest 14 years, I can truthfully say that I am most impressed by the people in it. Sometimes we probably appear to be nuts to be collecting what we do, but in this constantly-updated, throw-away society, it's really great that we are saving this part of history through the actual insulators and go-withs. Millbrook is spending about one million dollars to put the majority or the wires underground over the next 5 years. Change is constantly around us. One thing I hope never changes in this hobby is the attitude or people helping people. This is an important social organization in my life, as I think it is for most collectors. I would like to thank all or the collectors and dealers who have helped me over the past several years. To continue my support of the hobby, in July I started my 3-year term as Eastern Region Vice President of the NIA. I still have a great deal to learn, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's a whole new chapter for me."

"Waiting for a call from Dan Wagner
telling me he's tired of his Pyrex 660!"

Jeff is a nice person to know, and a loyal and good friend. I always look forward to seeing him each summer at the national. He's truly a "neat" person!