by Alan Rodgers

The E-14 B -- was it a secret government code? No, a most popular collector's item today. Its full name, Hemingray CS E-14 B (CD 128), has much significance to the modern day collector. Its beautiful colors have fascinated collectors since the first ones were discovered in the mid 1960's.

The location was the town of Ft. Pierce, on the east coast of Florida. John Neal of Ft. Pierce, a long time bottle and treasure collector, became interested in insulators in the middle 1960's. John, nearly blind, and his wife were traveling down the highway which parallels the Florida East Coast Railway. The FEC, a mainline railroad, has tracks which follow the east coast of Florida from Miami to Jacksonville. It is interesting to note that the Hemingray 54 A's and B's (CD 194/195) were located on this same line, only further to the north.

Workmen were busy dismantling this toll line when John and his wife stopped to investigate. What they found turned out to be, not clear or blue glass, but the unusually colored "opal glass". The linemen were happy to have someone haul them away. They were also instructed to check the railroad dump in town. When they arrived, there were more of these unusual "moonstone" insulators waiting to be picked up. Upon closer investigation of these glass oddities, they had discovered the unknown Hemingray E-14 B.

Of the 50 or 60 originally found, only a few turned out to be the best colored ever located. In the following years a small number of others were found scattered around the southern part of the state. Most were found near Lake Okeechobee, largest lake in southern United States.