Say this fast six times...
Pretty Pennycuicks Perched on a Pin

The greatest gift a collector can give to a hobby is to cultivate the fine art of sharing. Sharing, a lesson most of us learned at a mother's knee, can be expressed in countless ways within a collectible field.

The insulator hobby has many who practice sharing on a regular basis. They write regular columns for insulator publications, share their stories of collecting finds and develop well-researched articles. Many collectors have cultivated snail mail pen pals, spent cherished minutes of conversations during long distance phone calls and, most recently, hold "chat" sessions and broadcast e-mail messages to over one hundred fellow collectors with a single keystroke.

Buying, selling, trading, opening your home to fellow collectors who turn up in your town unexpectedly with a few hours to spare and want to pay of visit all reinforce the fine art of sharing. 

Of course, those who take the time to display at an insulator show will always have my greatest admiration. Imagine, packing up and removing some of your favorite pieces from the safety of your home, and bringing them by plane or car to a show to share with fellow collectors. 

In recent years, there have been noncompetitive displays put together by collectors who share a similar specialty or interest. They combine their pieces to show the best of the best. Many such displays were amassed at the National show last summer in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Collectors worldwide were among the participants. 

One of the combined displays featured insulators that were manufactured with threading attributed to the 1885 patent of James Pennycuick. Two insulators in that display were present because their owners know the fine art of sharing. A trip to the Enumclaw show in Washington state many years ago introduced Mr. Mac and me to one of the great collectors of the northwest. Bill Reid, Greenacres, Washington, brought one of the most incredible insulators to the show for photographing -- a bubbly lavender CD 170.1 Pennycuick.

"I received an insulator sales list from Frank Feher, a West Sacramento, California dealer, sometime in 1983 or 1984. He is a friend of mine and a nice guy. It was a short list of only a few juicy items. One of them was this CD 170.1 in a bubbly lavender color. At that time I had been collecting almost twenty years and I remember thinking to myself that I'd never heard of or seen a CD 170.1 in any shade of purple. That evening I called Frank from my home in Greenacres and he said that he still had the piece and that it was just gorgeous. I told him to send it along with same others that I ordered. I do clearly remember that the price tag an the CD 170.1 was $125.00! I received it a few days later and thought that it was really a neat piece. 

Later that week I called Frank again to get the history an the piece. Frank told me that a power lineman had taken this piece off a secondary power circuit or possibly a fire alarm circuit in the East Berkeley-East Bay area (Oakland-Berkeley area) of California. Frank bought it from the lineman and shortly after that sold it to me. 

I see Frank every May at the Enumclaw show in northwestern Washington and he always tells me that he would like to have that insulator back. I always tell him 'Not for $125, Frank!' We both laugh!

Kevin Lawless, from Schenectady, New York called me in early 1995 and wanted to know if I would send my bubbly lavender CD 170.1 to him so that he could put it in the Pennycuick display at the Marlborough national. I told him I would send it and the rest is history. I would like to thank Kevin for putting the insulator in the display and for taking great care of it during the time that it was gone from my collection. Also, thanks to Carol and John McDougald for photographing the piece and putting it with its amber cousin from Florida on the cover of Crown Jewels of the Wire."

Several years later, when Mr. Mac and I were embarking upon photographic research for a reference book, at that time one of the major collections in the northeast belonged to Tom Moulton of Ballston Spa, New York. Tom and his wife Alice now live in Plant City, Florida. Present in Tom's collection was an olive amber CD 170.l!

"The deep olive amber CD 170.1 seen at the recent National Show in Massachusetts was removed from the roof of the International Paper Company in downtown Ticonderoga, New York. I have called International Paper and requested information on when it was constructed, but the contacts I had there when I was calling on them for Holophane, are gone and I have gotten nowhere. If something does came in I will fax it to you -- don't hold your breath. 

The old mill was torn down and the manufacturing facility was moved to a more remote location in 1970-1971. I purchased the piece, I would guess, in the summer of 1971 at a flea market in the old ice skating rink in Saratoga Springs, New York. I don't exactly know why I remember all about the purchase. Lord knows, I hardly remember what I did on the golf course today (maybe I want to forget!) I clearly remember, however, being there with Alice and watching Sterling Finch pick up the piece (he was always there first!) and then put it down because of the inner skirt chip. I picked it up and it has been with us since. When I divested most of the heart of the collection, it was one of the few that I kept. I do not remember what it cost, but it was not much.

I believe it first appeared in the 1975 Milholland price schedule ( it was listed, however, as a CD 170) and was carried in his books after that. I do remember Marion really studying it at our home in Charlton which is now three homes back. John photographed it when he spent the two days photographing the collection at our home in Saratoga Springs in 1988, I believe. If you can find those photos, it is there -- along with a bunch of other stuff which I wish we owned now. 

This hobby is full of memories for me. One thing that I like is the fact that I can tell where most of the items in the collection came from now --- and each has a story. Perhaps that is one of the best parts about having the stuff all over the house."

Now, would you send your treasured insulator from Florida or Washington state to Massachusetts to take part in a display and not even be able to attend to keep a watchful eye? THAT IS SHARING! To Tom and Bill, owners of this month's cover jewels, we say thank you.

February 1996 Cover Photo

Finally, as part of the continuing research by Joe Maurath, Jr. of Abington, Massachusetts, the most current information available regarding Pennycuick. THANK YOU, Joe, for what you continually share with others.

"On August 11, 1885, James Pennycuick of Boston, Massachusetts was granted a patent for a "Method Of Forming Screw Threads On Glass." No mention about insulators was made within the patent text. 

During 1888 the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company closed their plant, which stood in Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Mr. Pennycuick purchased this property during December 1889, ' having recently formed the Electrical Glass Corporation. He was the company's director and was eager to get the glassworks up and running. Newspaper accounts of the day indicate that Mr. Pennycuick was very interested in manufacturing insulators, and almost immediately made prospective customers aware of his product by distributing insulator samples. Since he did not begin glassmaking until several months later, he had his samples made by the Sandwich Cooperative Glass Company. Delays in production and labor problems at Mr. Pennycuick's plant created a substantial backlog of order for his insulators. His prospective customers liked the samples and order continued to arrive. Obstacles he encountered at his glassworks caused him to cease operations during November 1890, only six months after glass making began. The property was foreclosed upon a short time later and sold at a public auction.

Nothing is known about the styles or lettering that concern the insulators produced at the Sandwich Cooperative Glass Company or at the Electrical Glass Corporation. At a minimum it seems obvious Mr. Pennycuick identified some with his 1885 patent date. It is noteworthy that these also bear the letter "P" within a diamond monogram boldly appearing on their skirts:  The letter P on these could represent Pennycuick; however, no proof currently exists. All appear to have been threaded by his patent process. These rare specimens have high quality, fine, concise threading that was unusual for insulators of that time. 

The majority of insulators located with this noticeable, characteristic threading are unmarked and are known in many styles. Most of these are aqua. Exceptions are those in light to dark blue and green shades. Some of these are quite intense and vivid; a few have swirls and bubbles, etc. [Two unique examples of Pennycuick. threaded insulators are the CD 170.1 s pictured on the cover.] Like their unmarked counterparts, Diamond-P embossed insulators appear to have been very well made. These have only been found in CD 134, and many collectors believe they are the most colorful of all Pennycuick-threaded specimens. The majority of Diamond-P's are aqua. Others have been located in made shades of blue and green. Interesting examples include those in sapphire, cornflower and teal blue. Slag, bubbles, swirls and other inconsistencies add spectacular beauty to some of these oddly colored insulators. Most Diamond-P insulators have been located in Eastern Massachusetts. All are rare, even the aqua ones. 

Other CD 134 specimens with lettering and Pennycuick pinhole threads are those with C.E.L.CO. and PETTINGELL ANDREWS embossing. They are also identical to the outer shape and size of Diamond-P insulators. These corresponding features suggest the possibility that the C.E.L. Co. and Pettingell Andrews ones were manufactured by someone who had rights to access to Pennycuick's threading technique." **

** Pennycuick historic information authored by Joe Maurath, Jr. and printed in the 1996 National Show Directory Permission granted for reprinting