Letter From A Lucky Fellow Collector
Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", June 1969, page 9
We would like to share our letter with you from: Chris Buys of Boulder,
Colorado,
who it seems is having the time of his life and we are very happy for him
and wish
to thank him for sharing his experiences with us. The only way it could
have been
better were if we could have gone with him. Thanks Chris, for our armchair
journey.
June 5, 1969
Dear Mrs. & Mr. Harned:
I am now in route to New Zealand after having spent some time in Tahiti
(French
Polynesia). Early this morning, after having spotted some rather atypical
green glass
insulators, on various lines near Papeetee, I approached the manager of the
Tahitian
Tel. Co. His lack of English vocabulary combined with my lack of French
vocabulary, generated some strange moments, namely, "You collect what? "
Being extremely understanding, the manager sent a worker to guide me to a
telephone workshop about 15 km (12 miles) away. When this worker proceeded
to
open the doors of an old shed, I couldn't help but feel anxious as well as
ambivalent
(I still wasn't sure they knew what I meant).
My doubts soon dissipated when my astonished eyes looked upon hundreds of
old
glass insulators, still mounted on steel or wooden brackets. However, as I
picked a
bracket from amid many others, I found myself unable to "unscrew" it.
Upon turning the brackets upside down I found all the various insulators were
cemented to the pegs with (what a bother to replace!) some very unflinching
substance. Upon further investigation I noticed none of them were threaded. But,
they are not real old insulators, at least I think that is a fair guess for two
reasons. First, the mold lines do not go over the domes. Second, some of them
have petticoats and although I'm not familiar with foreign patent dates I doubt
if they were manufactured before 1883 (American Patent for petticoat).
Well, I have shipped a wooden box full of the rather "odd ones" via
surface mail to my home in Boulder, Colorado with hopes they will all be saved
from cracks and chips. I met some wonderful Tahitians, enjoyed some funny
moments, and saw some unusual places -- all because of an interest in these
strange inverted objects. Hope to experience the same enjoyable type journey as
soon as I reach New Zealand.
Here are a few rough sketches to give you some idea concerning the shapes of
these French-Tahitian insulators.
"French Gingerbread"
Olive green and green
Petticoat
F-ISOREX
B 35/3
"Small Cable Head"
Aqua
No petticoat
Haven't looked for embossing yet.
"French Flat Head"
Aqua
No petticoat
Again, quickly packed them?
Hope you enjoy a little foreign collecting yourself someday -- it's great!
Sincerely,
Chris Buys
| 
