I'm sure many of you have been wondering what happened to Mac and his terrific column. Well, among other things, Mac found out that being a full time student meant exactly that -- it takes full time!! However, I have this huge backlog of pictures that I have taken, and the Editor said that if I didn't write a column while I was on semester break, she would be forced to retire the column permanently. So, heeeeere's Mac.

The pictures in this column all came from the Denver National last July. First, we'll look at a couple of interesting embossings, that I'll describe as "transition embossings". First is Bill and Jill Meier's CD 113 Hemingray/No12. The embossing is the normal one, except that a "9" is clearly visible under the "1" in No12. Several examples have been found where No9 is embossed on a CD 113, but this is the first one I've seen "after" the embossing error was corrected.

Speaking of Hemingray 9' s, here's one for you to look for. Sharp-eyed Richard Case (one of my best CD 106 suppliers) brought me a CD 106 on which the engraver used an upside-down "G" to make the "9" in No9. There is no doubt!! How many of those have you seen? I'll try to get a good picture for the next article. 

The Meier's CD 125 pictured (on the following page) has an unusual embossing considering the insulator is adorned with drip points. (F-Skirt) W.U./5 (R-Skirt) PATENT/DEC 19 1871/B. I don't believe I've seen a CD 125 with SDP that didn't have the 1893 date. It's probably as unusual as a smooth base insulator "with" the 1893 date.

Speaking of drip points, here are some that didn't even find their way to an insulator. I used to own one of these. It's embossed "PATENT MAY 2 1893" and has a nice set of sharp drip points. I'm guessing it's a paperweight -- about 5 inches in diameter. David Wilson provided this go-with in the 1893 display. If anybody has more information on this one let me know. I know of three of them.

Warren Pickett brought this insulator from Dallas which seems to be missing its drip points. This piece qualifies as a genuine sleeper. It is a CD 152 (F-Skirt) HEMINGRAY (R-Skirt) No 40. Notice the smooth base. This is only the second one of these I've seen, and the first on had a 3/4" extended inner skirt. This is an example of why it pays to go back through those junk boxes to look at the Hemi 40' s one more time.

While we're thinking about inner skirts, here are a couple to add to your list. Locke insulators in general seemed to have no standardization whatever in the length of the skirts that were used. I had not seen a CD 296 with anything but a modest inner skirt extension until the National. This one raises the insulator nearly 3/4" off the table. In addition to being unusual in shape, this one is a pretty light blue.

This next picture may not be immediately identifiable. It is similar to a CD 244 with most of the skirt broken off. The unusual thing about this piece provided by Al Perry is that an oil cup has been annealed to the pinhole to replace what was the inner skirt on the mold of the CD 244. None of the specimens that I have seen (about 8) had any remnant of an attached oil cup. That's not really surprising since they may not have been used and may have been a product of glasshouse employee antics. However, there is mention in the literature of this insulator design in use with an oil cup, and this is the first evidence of the existence of the oil cup.

The hobby has officially recognized two distinct bases on the glass Cutter (CD 1038) up to this time: the ribbed base which is described in the patent, and the "coffin bottom" which has a hollowed out base, possibly for the purpose of attaching a bracket. Pictured below is the third base style, which belongs to Butch and Eloise Haltman and may be described as a "reverse coffin bottom". As you can see, the insulator sits on a block extension which is located in the center of the insulator rather than on the perimeter as it is on the coffin bottom. This style may have been meant to accommodate a bracket as well since the curvature of the base which was meant to fit the contour of the tree would no longer be in contact with the tree.

The 1893 display at the Denver National brought out some pieces that don't see the light of day very often. Some of you may not have seen the CD 196 variations yet which belong to Dennis and Jeanne Weber. Pictured below are (on the left) the only known example of CD 196.5 and (on the right) one of only a handful of CD 196.2's. These pieces are nearly a full inch shorter than the standard CD 196.

The next picture shows a couple of wonderful pieces that changed hands in the past year. On the left is a base embossed CD 724 CHESTER. CD 724 is tough enough, let alone embossed, and the color -- clam broth!!! For those of you who don't have clam broth on your color chart, it's kind of a milky clear. On the right is a CD 131 Tillotson. As you can see, the lineman who put this one on a pin had to lean slightly to the right and hold his tongue just so for it to fit. A neat piece in any event, but it's the color that makes this one spectacular as well -- light pink/ SCA. The lucky owner is Doug Williams.

Pictured below are a couple more special threadless pieces. On the left is a blackglass CD 727 and on the right is a variation in the CD 737 family in dark teal which belong to John Ayers.

I've also pictured a couple of the very rare Salamander lightning rod insulators. Gene Condon, Charleston S.C. has surfaced a number of these in his area, and I believe he has them in four or five colors now. I'm sure he would appreciate any information from other collectors who may have run across these in their wanderings.

Finally, a what's-it for you to comment on. Unfortunately, I lost track of it's owner. Here are three shots of a porcelain/composition piece approximately 4-1/2" in diameter. The pinhole is slightly larger than standard, and the threading is coarser than would fit a standard pin. 

You may have also noticed that the procedure for attaching a wire is not intuitively obvious. However, rather than dismiss it as not being an insulator, I though you ought to take a look and decide for yourselves. As usual, comments on all of the above items are welcomed. Until next time, I will continue to work my way through this enormous pile of pictures to share the best of them with you, Believe It or Not!!!