CD 139.6 Revisited

The one and only CD 139.6 known at the time was first reported in a reference book in Milholland's 3rd revision of Most About Glass Insulators, released in 1975. It belonged to Gary and Dieline Coleman of Lancaster, New York. That single example of the Consolidated Design 139.6 stood alone for over 25 years. "Only one known" has a special place in most collectors hearts, and I believe that piece has had only three owners since it was introduced into the hobby in 1975.

Pyrex manufactured this unique piece, and it carries the patent date of May 27, 1919. The patent date is interesting in itself for a number of reasons. First, as a trivia fact (of course this comes too late for the trivia contest at this year's National convention), May 27, 1919 is the most recent patent date (closest to now) that is embossed on any North American glass insulator. Second, it was assigned to Sullivan & Taylor who worked at Corning for their boro-silicate glass formula for the manufacture of baking dishes. This formula was right in the middle of the disputes between Fry, Locke and Corning, who were all experimenting with similar glass formulas. This topic is covered very thoroughly in Elton Gish's book, Fred M. Locke, A Biography, and will not be duplicated here. However, this patent date appears on only two styles of Pyrex insulators: CD 139.6 and the three piece stacker, CD 248/311/311. 

Well, it's the new millennium, and the CD 139.6 doesn't stand alone anymore - well sort of. John Siegwart, Birmingham, Alabama, was shopping in an antique store in Memphis, Tennessee, and up pops an insulator that was unusual enough for him to pick it up and buy it. John wrote the editor with news of his find, and how to go about positively identify the piece: For example, the insulator in your price guide does NOT have a distinct shoulder on the bottom of the wire guide and my insulator does NOT have the two indentations in the upper side of the wire guide. The differences in these two insulators clearly go beyond a slight mold variation. After some preliminary research, this insulator appeared to be the second CD 139.6, but just to make sure, John forwarded the piece to Mr. N. R. Woodward (Woody) for final verification.

That's when the trouble started. The editor got a letter from Woody that said he'd be glad to assign a CD number to this piece, but it wouldn't be CD 139.6. The reason - it has an inner skirt, and according to Woody's master list, a double petticoat side groove style has to be assigned a CD number from 145 - 184, inclusive. As a result, Woody assigned the new find CD 174.5.

This turn of events caused me to call the current owner, Cathedral City, California's Butch and Eloise Baltman, of the original CD 139.6 to get more information about that piece. Sure enough, that one also has an inner skirt. So if you have been keeping track, CD 139.6 now doesn't exist, and the hobby now has two examples of CD 174.5. So what did the "well sort of' in the previous paragraph mean? The dome on the original piece is not perfectly round when viewed from the top. It has two flat sides opposite each other which may have been put there in the manufacturing process in anticipation of a clamp or other fitting for the insulator. The new piece is perfectly round. Woody believes that they both appropriately belong under the same CD 174.5, so that's where they will stay. 

By the way, we also discovered as a result of this investigation that the base measurement recorded in the 1999 Price Guide for Insulators for CD 139.6.is incorrect. It is reported as 4-7/8" and should be shown as 3-7/8". You may want to make that correction in case you are as lucky as John Siegwart was and stumble across one in an antique store. Isn't it interesting that in over 30 years of serious insulator collecting by thousands of collectors, we have only been able to find two insulators of relatively recent manufacture by a rather prolific producer of insulators that are in the shape of CD 174.5. Even more interesting is the fact that the two pieces, found hundreds of miles and 25 years apart, aren't exactly the same shape, 
Believe It or Not!

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Now, it's your turn, John Siegwart. How did you happen upon the CD 174.5?

It was your typical quick look around an antique store scanning for insulators. I spotted a basket on the floor with some insulators in it. A quick look in the basket indicated they were CD 155's and a few beehives. Not very exciting. I almost did not pick up any of the insulators and look at them. But, then I noticed that one of the  "CD 155's" was different. I picked it up and immediately saw it was not a CD 155 and that I had never seen the insulator before. Much more exciting! 

The insulator had an old price tag that looked like it could be at least 10 years old. The price tag had the patent date and $38. Since I have found a number of insulators that I was not familiar with that turned out to be $5 insulators, so I did not buy the insulator. I had brought my price guide to Memphis, but it was back at the house. I decided that I would go check the price and come back if it turned out to be a good insulator. We drove a few miles back to the house and I proceeded to look for the insulator in the 1999 Price Guide. I found the insulator quickly, and, needless to say, when I saw the price we were immediately heading back to the antique shop. 

All the way back to the shop I had this awful image of someone else walking out of the shop with the insulator in their hand. I guess the "Believe It Or Not" message is DON'T stop digging through those buckets of common insulators. You never know which bucket has the next rare insulator.

I'm planning to go to Memphis in two weeks. I'll go by the antique shop where I found the insulator and see if the owner can provide any information on where the insulator came from. (I hope he doesn't try to choke me when he finds out he sold a one of a kind insulator for $38!!!!!!!).