In the early seventies near Albany New York, Karen and I had a sales table of insulators at a Church meeting room. The swap meet was sponsored by the Capital District Insulator Club. A very distinguish well dressed gentlemen approached our table and introduced himself as William Brookfield. Said he was trying to put together a collection of as many Brookfield insulators as he could find that his family produced.

He was really delighted to find a CD 149 Brookfield on our table. He told us how difficult of a time he had trying to locate one. That really made his day and also us talking with him. Now looking back the more that I think of it I haven't seen very many of these manufactured with the Brookfield embossing either. Or even in other collectors hands while visiting with them or on eBay. I think they're a really neat and an unusual looking glass because of the unusual appearance do to the extra wide wire groove and pointed dome. The production of this style and quantity must have been very limited and seem tough to locate. 

The Brookfield embossing is located on the front of the skirt of the insulator with New York on the rear of the skirt. I purchased a small collection this spring that had a Brookfield in dark aqua, plus 2 pennycuicks in the CD149 style, one of which has a continuous drip. Any information on these Brookfield "sleepers" would be very much appreciated. 

If you have one of these elusive Brookfield's in your collection let us know what you think. I came across my first ones on a barn in 1968 in upstate New York which were covered in white paint. After cleaning off the pair of them I could see one was a light aqua and the other was a dark green which is the one Mr. Brookfield acquired. The only other ones that I have are in dark aqua with bubbles running thru it and a light aqua one. The dark aqua one is from the newly acquired collection and within a fifty mile radius of where the other two were found on the barn. This in a thirty seven year span. I think it would be pretty interesting to see what other readers have and where they came from. 

Thanks, 
George and Karen Toften 
(518) 827-4606 or toflO@yahoo.com

Editor's note: We've pictured some CD 149's in color on the following two pages. 

CD 149's
THE
WIDE
GROOVE
BEEHIVES

(page 32)

For some collectors the pointed dome is even more  prominent than the extra wide wire groove,  leading to the nickname "coneheads".

(page 33)

PAGE 32:

Top: No embossing. (020) style with smooth base. Outstanding amber swirls.

Bottom: Embossed BROOKFIELD on the front and NEW YORK on the reverse.. Also a character piece due to the heavy amber swirling.

PAGE 33:

Top Left: No embossing. (010) style. This is the unembossed variety with the "continuous drip". The base is rounded instead of flat. McDougald's Price Guide describes a continuous drip as a rounded projection that goes all the way around the base and forms a ledge on the inside and outside of the base. The color the insulator shown is dark aqua with lots of seed bubbles.

Top Right: Embossed BROOKFIELD on the front and NEW YORK on the reverse. The color is aqua.

Lower Left: Embossed BROOKFIELD on the front and NEW YORK on the reverse. The color is light aqua.

Lower Right: No embossing. (020) style with smooth base. This insulator is listed in the Price Guide in ten different colors. The color of the one shown is a little odd, and is probably best described as light green aqua.

There are only three major varieties of the CD 149's, and all three are shown in the color photos. But some examples are found in dramatic colors. Listed in the Price Guide are:

* Dark green for the Brookfield examples.

* Yellow olive green for the continuous drip example.

* And the other unembossed style is known in teal green, yellow green and sapphire blue. If any reader owns a CD 149 in one of those brilliant colors, CJOW would love to have a color photo and would gladly publish it. We'd also be interested in hearing if anyone has an idea or suggestion for who might have manufactured the unembossed 149's. Some, but not all examples, have characteristics similar to Pennycuick style insulators. Pennycuick produced several insulator styles with a continuous drip, so there may be some consistency to this theory. Any thoughts? Write or email us here at Crown Jewels.