The OVIC 2006 insulator show and sale was held in Perth Ontario on April 22. This year's show had all the tables filled with both displays and sales items. Collectors from several states and provinces were in attendance. The long distance award has to go to Dave French who made it up from MN. Rick Soller ( IL.) and Bruce Gorham ( NB.) deserve mention for their great efforts in making the show also.

The walk in crowd seemed to be a little larger than last year's show. Everyone seemed to be happy with things and a few pointers have been made to tweak next year's show. The donations jar looked good and the extra funds will be directed to Insulators.com, InsulatorsCanada.com and the NIA for their show and hobby support.

Altered insulators travel to Canada

Many seldom seen insulators were at the show. Perhaps one of the drawing cards for this year's show was the NIA's Altered Insulator Display that was presented for the first time in Canada. These odd colored insulators are all baked or irradiated to create different colors. With the growing numbers of fake amber and purple insulators being made these last few years, the National Insulator Assn. has assembled a collection of known fakes to educate the hobby as to what these fakes look like. Knowing what these "custom" insulators look like will hopefully prevent some of us from realizing we've handed over good money for a fake insulator rather than a straight up piece of collectable history.

These insulators have all been documented as to what they were, what was done to them and the resulting color. Many of these new colors are sick or bland purples and ambers which and experienced eye can usually pick out of a table of real insulators. There are operators who have come very close to creating the real shades of purple though, so it pays to keep your eyes open when looking for insulators. Things are not always what they may seem, no matter where you find them. Some of these fakes are with third and forth parties, so the person selling or swapping them may honestly have no knowledge that they are fake or altered insulators.

Doug Netzky's Mexican and South American insulators.

Doug Netzky had a nice display of Mexican and South American insulators. With the boom in internet collecting, these and other foreign insulators are not as uncommon as they used to be. 10 years ago, a South American insulator would have been a real puzzle for most of us. Thanks to Doug's displays, many of us can spot these different embossings and styles and at least get the manufacturer's country correct.

Rick Sollers's lightning rod insulators

Rick Soller's display of lightening rod system insulators was another display of items not often seen around here. There just doesn't seem to be these kinds of insulators in Eastern Ont. A few have turned up, but nothing like the ones Rick had on display. Many of the old barns I've seen, just have the ground wire wrapped around a nail or even stapled to the logs. I guess it may depend on who was promoting what in the way of barn protection systems way back when.

A purple threadless insulator does not necessarily have the same shade of purple found in later threaded glass, and the same can be said for many other insulator colors also.

Manfred Hager's CD 143s

Manfred Hager had a very impressive display of early beehives. The 3 main styles of threadless 743s and their related threaded 143s cousins made for an impressive and educational display. Also displayed by Manfred was a nice group of colored 718 pieces that represent untold hours of digging. It's very nice to know what honest colors are available in the threadless glass.

One interesting porcelain spool was picked up on the way to the show this year. Rick Soller was rewarded for his efforts in digging out this brown spool. While ordinary looking, this spool has a previously unknown marking across the larger end. I'm sure Rick has been digging into the reference books to solve the puzzle. If anyone has a clue as to what "PLE LTD" represents or has a bit of history on this marking, Rick and the rest of us would be interested to know.

The sales tables had a bit of everything. Canadian, American and foreign insulators styles in many colors were available. Threadless, porcelain and some go-withs all changed hands though out the show. It is hard to list individual insulators that were seen on either side of the table. Like most hobbies, some collections are being thinned while others are being filled out. Everyone seemed to have a good time visiting friends old and new.

Photo credits for this column go to Manfred Hagar, Alex Winch and myself. What would we do without digital cameras to record our shows and insulators?

Thanks to all who made the effort to attend the show and make it a success once again. Hope many of you can make it back for OVIC 2007. The header insulator for this column is a CD 121 Diamond "Toll" insulator in royal purple. This style of insulator was used mostly on the early telephone lines. Often found with newer styles of CD 102s, it is the predecessor of the CD 122 in terms of insulator design and development.

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.

Other News The 6th annual Western Canadian Insulator Collectors show and sale will be held July 15 & 16 in Medicine Hat Alberta. See Coming Events for more info.

Good collecting ................. Robin

Robin Plewes, Almonte Ontario. 
Phone: 613-256-7638 
Email: robin.plewes@cmcelectronics.com