New finds of multipart porcelain insulators continue to be made quite frequently, but recently the discoveries have been astounding! Reporting of two fantastic discoveries unfortunately will have to wait until November CJ because I have not been able to photograph them properly for PIN. However, one super multipart can be shown this month.

Tim Wood (NIA #1099) is always on the lookout for nice porcelain in the Oregon area. When I get a small package of photographs from him I know he has found a real goodie. His photographs are always outstanding, too. Tim says that he has been blessed over the past few months by adding about 60 porcelain insulators to his collection. He purchased a collection of nearly 1000 pieces and had a great time unwrapping all of it. Sounds like Christmas came early this year. We will show his best find first which was not part of the large group he acquired. This insulator was in a lady’s front yard very near Tim’s home along with another identical insulator with the bottom skirt broken out. The insulator is composed of four parts cemented together (see dimensions under photograph). I wish you could see the beautiful dark blue glaze — not the darker cobalt blue!! The whole insulator does not have any markings. The insulator with the broken bottom skirt has the partial Pittsburg date control marking of “MAR 5” on the top skirt and full marking of “MAY 12 PAID” on the bottom skirt. The color photograph of the whole insulator will probably appear on the insulator web page (http://www.insulators.com). I have assigned this Pittsburg insulator M-4360.

Note that the bottom skirt has a dimple in it on opposite sides similar to M-2322 (Lapp and Locke), M-3120 (Pittsburg), and M-3164 (Lapp) all of which have been found with a cobalt blue or dark blue glaze. This basic insulator style (with two cutouts in the bottom skirt) is rare and has never been reported in any color other than dark blue. Tim’s M-4360 must be quite impressive in the dark blue color because of its large size. I suspect that these insulators were intended to be used in a substation rather than on a pole. Three Locke M-2322’s were found in a substation in San Antonio, TX about 15 years ago. Insulators of this basic style (with cutouts in the bottom skirt) were probably mounted in an underhung fashion by means of a bracket attached to the crown (note the rather flat-top crown), and the conductor attached by laying it in the two cutouts in the bottom skirt and secured by a tie-wire wrapped around the groove in the bottom skirt. I’m not sure what the advantage would be for this arrangement. The M-2322’s from San Antonio had a three-pronged bracket screwed onto a pipe cemented in the pinhole. This arrangement was probably used to stack the insulators to withstand high voltages.

M-4360 showing crown detail. Note flat 
design and raised white ring for firing rest.
M-4360
(14 - 10.5 - 12 - 8.5 - 7.5 x 16)

Another interesting insulator Tim reported is an unmarked M-2510 Thomas. Note the very large chip (shown in the photograph) that was made at the factory. The insulator in a pre-fired bisque form was probably dropped or bumped up against something to cause the chip. The operator didn’t notice the damage and allowed the insulator to be sent to the glazing bath. It evidently passed the electrical test (if there was one) and made it past the visual inspection. No doubt it served its intended purpose well. The flaw probably enhanced its appeal for the lineman who re-moved it from the pole line and decided to take it home. This is an interesting example of poor quality control. An insulator with a glaze-over chip is considered to be in “mint” condition.

M-2510 N-N Thomas with large
glaze-over factory chip.

In my book, Value Guide for Unipart and Multipart Insulators, M-3471 was listed as an unreported Thomas style. Bill Rohde (NIA #1219) reported an unmarked M-3471 with the characteristic Thomas blue-jean seams inside the bottom skirt. The glaze is a pretty mustard orange color. Jeff Kaminski (NIA #3582) recently purchased an unmarked M-3471 which also has Thomas’ characteristic blue-jean seam inside the bottom skirt. Jeff’s insulator is not the “ordinary” brown color, but rather an unusual gray color! The gray color and blue-jean seam in combination indicates that Jeff's insulator was probably made between 1905-1910. The top skirt is the typical early gray; however, the bottom two skirts are a darker charcoal gray which adds to the unusual nature of this insulator.

M-3471 with gray glaze and Thomas’ 
characteristic blue-jean seam inside
bottom skirt.

The Long Beach National was a great show. I picked up a few nice porcelain insulators which were much too large to carry on the airplane flight back home. It is so nice to have great insulator friends like Jim Bates (NIA #3287) who was willing to transport a big gray M-4321 at least as far as Austin (now if I could just convince my wife to make a trip to Austin), and Bill Rohde who eagerly volunteered to ship a couple of big boxes plus the glass display case I won in the dealer’s raffle (made by Rich Dawson). It is friends like this that make our hobby the greatest. Thanks guys.

One unusual find at the National was two M-3490’s sitting on Rob Lloyd’s (NIA #3414) table. Near the end of the show Ben Kirsten discovered something unusual about them. He (like the rest of us) saw the insulators and naturally assumed them to be Pittsburg items because the skirts were thick and the glaze was rather dark. Ben needed a Pittsburg M-3490 so he bought one and later discovered that it had Thomas’ characteristic blue-jean seam inside the bottom skirt. Jeff Kaminski quickly caught wind of the news and snatched up the other insulator on Rob’s table. This is a nice find for a multipart collector because Thomas is an unlisted manufacturer for M-3490.

M-3490