First, a little follow-up and cleanup from some earlier articles. I heard from Roger Lucas (Columbus, IN) reporting that he had found a CD 113 Hemingray similar in embossing to the one belonging to Bill Meier that I pictured in my Nov. '92 column. It was a Hemingray 12 with a very bold "HE" embossed below HEMINGRAY NO.12, definitely not a double-strike. Bill's is a purple tint and Roger's is aqua, so we know that mold was used at least twice.

Roger is an embossing error specialist, and he indicated that he found this piece by following my advice to "look at every insulator". I, too, employed that philosophy at Jack Snyder's Erie, MI show in May and came up with a new (to me) embossing for a CD 280 Hemingray. It's the standard High Voltage No.1 embossing with two differences: (1) the '3' in 1893 is backwards, and (2) the 'o' in No.1 is not superscripted and underlined. This is only the second (hint -- the other one is a CD I collect) Hemingray CD I am aware of that treats the style number (e.g. "No.1") this way. If you need a project next winter, go through your Hemingray's and see how many you can find embossed this way. I'd be interested in any other variations you find.

I also got the answer to another minor mystery while attending the Erie show. In my Jan. '93 article, I pictured a porcelain golf 'tee marker' made by Lapp but didn't identify the owner. Don Borton (Jackson, MI) reintroduced himself to me at Erie and closed the loop (or should that be closed the Lapp). Anyway, Don owns the marker, and I apologize for the belated credit. 

On to some other news. Bob Moss (Millville, NJ) sent the following photograph which highlights the difficulty in drawing specific distinctions between CD's that are close. I'm reminded again of how indebted we are for the pioneering work that N.R. "Woody" Woodward did in developing and continuing to update the CD numbering system. Bob writes, "The W. T. #1 in the center is a prototype between CD 154-155. The dome and base are the same size as the CD 154. It is a pale green color, almost clear." (pictured on following page.) Bob also indicates that he has a CD 128 C.S.C. Whitall Tatum type with no embossing except for a small '5' on the skirt, in the same pale green color. Both pieces came from the Millville, NJ plant back in the 60's. Thanks for sharing those items, Bob.

Large Image (268 Kb)

Jim Woods (Galesburg, IL) wrote me earlier this year about a glass tile he found at the Kane County Flea Market (familiar to all of you who attend the Carol Stream, IL show). It's drawing is at the right, and is embossed PAT. FEB. 8th 1881/L.G. T. & CO. It is about three inches square and is light green vaseline in color. While I have been unable to find any supporting patent information, it certainly could be a Tillotson product. Tillotson was in business until 1885, and the color is reminiscent of the Pennycuick Diamond- P' s that came out of the same part of the country at about the same time. Jim had this piece at the Kansas City regional for inspection. If you can shed any light on this item, please write.

Finally, I had heard from Gene Condon (north Charleston, SC) last fall about some "baby blocks" (that's the insulator kind of block in case you were wondering) he had recently acquired. He said they were dug in a pre-Civil War layer of bottles, etc. I had a chance to see two samples at Kansas City (see picture). They are virtually clear in color and are quite small. The channel is nearly square, and two of them set end to end form a shape more nearly like a standard block (e.g. CD 1002). Unfortunately, we have a lot more questions than answers on this piece, but keep digging, Gene. You've helped rekindle insulator enthusiasm in the Carolina's. Thanks for the pictures and information. While we wait for more information on Gene's block's, I can report that another new block CD has been found and will be pictured in this column soon, Believe It or Not!