The 7th annual Ottawa Valley Insulator Collectors Show and Sale went very well despite the rainy weather. April in eastern Ontario can be just about anything. One year we had a few inches of snow 2 days after the show. This year it was raining, but things were warm and dry inside. The hall was full with both sales and display tables. The long distance nomination has to go to Bruce Gorham and his partner who came over from New Brunswick. Bruce brought some small battery rests for show, that were a bit unusual when you consider the many styles of pin type insulators that we often come across.

The sales tables had just about every color you could think of in one style of another. Threadless insulators were also well represented from low-end repaired 740s to knock-your-socks-off cranberry blackglass 726s. I can't think of a tougher insulator that has appeared at an OVIC show in previous years. The header insulator (above) is in fact a picture of this rare insulator. It can truly be called "blackglass" as the cranberry color is next to impossible to see except in the base flashings where light can show through the glass. Many of us "drooled" over the insulator, as we'd only seen pictures of this rare color.

Everyone Loves A Carnival

Doug Netzke made it down from Sudbury again and put together two very nice displays. Doug presented a good range of Radio Strains and Carnival insulators. Pete Beshara had a table full of no name and unembossed 143s for all to look over and discuss. You never really know how many there are till you see a display. (And that can apply to nearly any insulator style or characteristic.) 

All Kinds of Radio Strains

AI Hall presented a display of his insulator finds along with some very collectable Canadian brass railroad locks. It was hard to know what to look at with so many interesting items on one table. Jack and Yvonne Hayes displayed many nice insulators and had quite a selection of interesting railroad books. Sooner or later we all seem to end up with books to go with our collections.

Jack & Yvonne Hayes With Their Threadless Display

Manfred Hager brought a small but significant display of colored 718 pieces that he has come across while putting in untold hours of threadless digging.

Many dealers reported good sales, so I can assume there were many insulators going to new homes at the end of the day. I know there was a lot less purple glass on the tables at 2:00pm than when trading started at 9:00am.

Porcelain insulators were not left out of the action either. There were at least 2 tables of just porcelain insulators. The biggest one that showed up was thanks to George Nowacki. George brought down one of his nice 3 piece Thomas multi parts. The embossed M-3451 actually has the glaze markings where cloth was used to protect the porcelain on the inside of the bottom shell. It seems Thomas had a problem with the plunger or inner mold sticking to the freshly formed lower shell, so they covered it with what seems to be old denim pants in order to get around the problem. Cobalt colored Canadian porcelain is not common in eastern Ontario, so the two U-2421s that were offered disappeared early in the show.

The tightened border security seems to have held a lot of American collectors back from OVIC shows in recent years. Tim Baxter of NY made it up for his second OVIC show and went home with a smile on his face. His wife and daughter went shopping in the historic town of Perth. In fact many "significant others" made it out to the shops while the collectors visited and swapped insulators. The interesting Town of Perth makes the OVIC shows a little easier for everyone to get something out of an insulator show or road trip. 

Thanks to everyone who made the show a success! 
See you next year.

Picture credits for this column go to Alex Winch and Peter Beshara. Thanks very much for the effort!

For those readers on the west coast, don't forget about the Western Canadian Insulator Collectors 5th annual event on July 15,16, and 17, 2005 in Medicine Hat Alberta. The show will be held in the Medalta Potteries Administration Building, 713 Medalta Ave. The historic Medalta Potteries site and gift shop will be open and guided tours available throughout the show. For more info, contact Daryl Heron 403-529-6117, Dave Spencer 403-528-3252 {aandd@telus.net} or check out the web site at www.insulatorscanada.com {Shows and Events Forum}.

Feel free to drop CJOW or myself a note if you have anything you would like to see covered in the way of Canadian insulator news or information.

Good Collecting....

Robin

Dug Treasures 
Nicely Colored CD 718 Pieces

The Cranberry Blackglass Base