This month's column has a few interesting bits and pieces to pass along with
regard to Canadian insulators.
The first is a true "whatzit". This item was picked up at a garage
sale last summer and is a bit of a puzzle. The glaze has a few fine stress
cracks in it and seems "deep", as though there were several
coats of clear sealer used on it after it was baked. It has a 1" threadless
pinhole and measures 3" across the base and is only 2" high. There are
also no mold lines in the caramel colored glaze.
The best guess is that it was made by a pottery craft person for an insulator
collector. There is no name on it and it really doesn't fit any of the known U#s
in American or Canadian porcelain insulators. The wavy rounded edges indicate it
was hand made rather than machine pressed. A Foreign use or origin can pretty
well be ruled out also. Thanks to both Elton Gish and Rick Soller for helping to
identify such an oddball item. It turns out Rick has 2 or 3 similar items in his
collection.
WHATZIT
Anyone have any ideas?
The other interesting thing that has come my way is this neat picture taken
by AI Hall. This picture shows 2 newer CD 122 {Dominion - 16s ?} still on their
side pins. While this is a rare site these days, the thing that is even more
interesting is the metal support that has been installed around each side pin. There must have been a heavy cable or really long pole
span at this spot to warrant the use of such a support. The lineman must have
had no worries about the insulator only being a CD 122 rather than a larger
style, as he figured the side pin would be the weakest part on the pole.
Great news for the upcoming OVIC 2006 insulator show, April 22nd in Perth
Ont.! The National Insulator Association. has agreed to assemble a Canadian
version of their Altered Insulator Display and for the first time this display
will be seen outside the lower 48 States. With more and more suspect insulators
being made available to the hobby, this is a great opportunity for collectors to
check out some known-to-be-faked insulator colors. This is done with a display
of before and after portions of the same insulator. The display will feature
both Canadian and American insulators.
With the Internet being such a wide-ranging tool for so many areas of life
these days, fake insulators and "art" items can turn up anywhere.
Canadian collectors are just as likely to be stung with a lump of art glass as
our American friends. I know a lot of serious NIA and personal effort has gone
into this display and hope collectors find the trip to OVIC 2006 both
educational and enjoyable.
For more information on OVIC 2006, check out the web site at http://www.insulators.com/clubs/ovic
or call Robin at 613-256-7638 before 9.00pm EST.
Some of this column's photos are used with thanks to AI Hall. The header
insulator for this column (below) is an indigo blue CD 718 Canadian threadless
insulator.
