| | Rohde Ranch Insulator Roundup
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| | By Mike Doyle
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10th Anniversary Celebration
Fresno, California April 22nd, 2006
That spring Saturday dawned overcast and threatening rain but it was a day to
remember. It was a day that some of us had been planning for two years. It was a
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| | AIN'T BLUE PURDY?
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With so many beautiful and scarce blue colored insulators, you might think
that Clay Carson and his father, Robert, specialized in them. Actually, while
considering what to display at the national, they surprised themselves when they
counted how many blue insulators they own. Then they couldn't resist putting
... [more]
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| | BEST LRI's
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Rick Soller won the NIA award for best exhibit of lightning rod equipment.
He displayed various styles of lightning rod insulators and the brackets that
were used to attach them to the lightning rod itself.
The purpose of the LRI is to separate (insulate) the lightning rod from the
... [more]
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| | Awards and Attendees
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Todd Berry displayed his collection of transposition insulators at the
National. Nicknamed "tramps" by collectors, these insulators were used
on telephone lines to transpose the wire position from pole to pole. If
telephone wires ran parallel to each other for too great a distance, "cross
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| | Exhibits
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While there is a lot of good natured "ribbing" between collectors
or glass and porcelain insulators, Gregory Delia's exhibit was more on the
subject of material used in the manufacture of insulators. He displayed examples
of insulators and go-withs made of glass, porcelain, rubber and composite
... [more]
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| | Epilogue, Credits, Next Year
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Incoming NIA president Kevin Jacobson (center) congratulates 2006 Show Hosts
(left to right) Bob Berry, Carolyn Berry, Jim Bates, and Jack Roach for their
hard work and successful efforts.
... [more]
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| | BEST GO-WITH EXHIBIT
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Tom Katonak's display of piano insulators won the award for best exhibit of "go-withs". Less than ten years ago, most of the
world's collectors of
piano insulators resided in Australia & New Zealand. Thanks to Tom's
enthusiasm, the hobby is spreading across America and Europe. Designed to
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| | SHOW TIME!
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Appearing below are a few of the many great insulators in
attendance at the 2006 National.
... [more]
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| | BEST GENERAL CATEGORY
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"Honest Ron" sells insulators cheap! Especially used ones. And you
know that some have many years of good service left. All makes are available.
Why, despite the short production time, "Honest Ron" is happy to
announce he has a good stock of the Long Beach California produced insulators.
... [more]
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| | NO TIE REUNION
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Organized by Jason Townsend, a number of collector participated in what may
be the largest, to date, reunion of porcelain "no tie" insulators.
Perhaps best known are the patent designs of Harloe and Purkey, but other styles
were also on display. The concept behind "no ties" is that the design
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| | INSULATOR OF THE MONTH
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THE BLOB
Denny Hackthorne is the proud owner of this CD 140.5, nicknamed "The
Blob". Found along only one particular railroad line, these unusual
insulators are among the hobby's most scarcest. Many are of such a dark cobalt
color that little light passes through them. This example is exceptionally
... [more]
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| | BEST THREADLESS
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Doug Williams received the NIA award for best exhibit of threadless
insulators with his display of items made in Canada. Displayed were insulators
used by the Montreal Telegraph Company (1847), the Dominion Telegraph Company
(1868), the Toronto, Hamilton & Niagara Electric Telegraph Company (1846),
... [more]
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| | MEXICAN JEWELS
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Gil Hedges-Blanquez pursues insulators from south of the border. There's no
shortage of color or variety in crown jewels from Mexico. Three of Gil's prizes
are shown below.
His exhibit included 17 different CD styles and at least 32 different
embossings. In other words, virtually every insulator was different even without
... [more]
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| | BEST JUNIOR EXHIBIT
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Clay Bledsoe's research into the use of the device shown below resulted in
his winning the NIA's award for the best display by a junior collector. NIA
president Kevin Jacobson is shown presenting the award to Clay at the annual
banquet.
... [more]
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| | ONE WILD RIDE...
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| | By Bob Machann
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The 37th National Insulator Association Annual Show & Convention was held
at the Doubletree Hotel in Austin, Texas. After battling heavy rains to leave
the Houston area, I arrived at the hotel on Wednesday afternoon. Doug Williams,
Gil Hedges-Blanquez, Mike Doyle, and Lou Hall were there, too. More collectors
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| | BEST THREADED DISPLAY
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"CD 104's are not boring", so insists collector Gene Hawkins. He's
obviously correct, as his display won the award for best exhibit of threaded
glass. His display featured about three dozen different 104's in a good variety
of colors.
... [more]
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| | THE BIG "E"
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ENTHUSIASM!
Show hosts for the 2006 National presented the Lon C. Holy Memorial Award to
Mark & Elaine Corriero.
... [more]
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| | AUSTIN ACCOLADES
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NATIONAL INSULATOR ASSOCIATION'S
37th ANNUAL SHOW
JULY 7-9, 2006
AUSTIN,
TEXAS
Outstanding insulators. Rare specimens. Lots of variety. Excellent exhibits.
Large crowds. Brisk sales. Good friends. Great Company. What more could a
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| | Insulator Happiness - 2006 National Show
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ABOUT THE COVER:
Happiness reigns
on the face of eight year old
Frances
Hirschler
who just received a gift of a
purple Diamond pony
at the 2006 National
Show.
... [more]
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| | BEST SPECIALTY
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Chris Renaudo's Crown Embossed Brookfield (CREB's) beehives won the NIA's
award for best exhibit of a specialty collection. Chris' display also won the
Kevin Lawless Memorial Award for the "Best Exhibit Using Eastern
Insulators" presented by the Capital Region Bottle & Insulator Club.
... [more]
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| | BEST EXHIBIT USING PORCELAIN
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Elton Gish (right) presented Jeff Katchko (middle) and Ken WiIIick the Jack
Tod Memorial Award for the "Best Exhibit Using Porcelain Insulators"
for their research into products made by Fred M. Locke. Their exhibit was
entitled "What was in Fred's attic?". The award honors early collector
... [more]
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| | BEST COLOR
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AMAZING were the colors of glass in Jim Fielding's prize winning exhibit. He
also received the Jim Overstreet Memorial Award for the "best exhibit using
threaded CD's." The Canadian signal embossed "1678", shown below,
is simply outstanding with its purple swirls. Jim told us his favorite of all is
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| | BEST OF SHOW
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Elton Gish won the People's Choice Award, the NIA award for Best Display of
Porcelain Insulators, the Milholland Education Award, and the award for
"Best Exhibit Using Power Insulators" with his exhibit of rare
pin-type porcelain insulators. Elton is shown below receiving the
... [more]
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| | A Magazine for Collectors
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| | Photos from "Crown Jewels of the Wire," August 2006
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CJ In Color!
The following photos are from the August 2006
Crown Jewels of the Wire magazine. These have been provided by the publisher
for those wishing to see a color rendition of the black and white photos
... [more]
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| | CHAMBERS FAMILY
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There was a Chambers family reunion on the table top of collector Chuck
Haymond. Shown here are just a portion of the examples owned by Chuck.
Manufactured by Hemingray, the insulators were used on the rooftops of barns
and houses as part of the Chambers Lightning Rod protection system.
... [more]
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