I haven't seen one for 30 years? A friend just bought it in Toledo this spring at an antique mall. I confirmed his suspicions that it was a fake when he called. These ponies caused quite a stir when they were first "found." Nobody really took credit for finding them. The cobalt ponies that turned up first in London were always a mystery. They just sorta turned up at shows periodically but never in quantities. The general consensus was they were fakes. They were always in great condition. They never appeared to be worn or damaged. They eventually got tied to a Toledo Owens Illinois Glass Company employee by the name of Fritz Hammer. I don't know what his company title was but he traveled extensively to O-I glass plants all over the world.

He had technical knowledge of glass making. He also had access to materials and equipment to make the product. The cobalt ponies were made in Toledo at a fairly high quality level. Gary Hill a pioneer insulator collector from Toledo had first hand knowledge of the (re-) productions. Gary told me a threaded wooden cob was screwed into the molten glob of blue glass. After the cob had been used 2 or 3 times they were producing threadless cobalt insulators. Most of the time spent in producing the hand made cobalts was related to replacing the flaming wooden cobs. There was always a non conformity in the individual threading characteristics of each insulator. Of course at the time we didn't know the threading mandrill was wooden. The mold itself was fashioned from a CD 102 Brookfield pony. As I recall they were sold in the $10 to $15 dollar range. These pieces were probably the first generation of reproduction insulators ever made. A true "collectors" item.

Fritz did find a quantity of authentic dated aqua (and some scarcer green) star helmets in use at a glass plant in Louisiana. He had them removed from service and he subsequently sold them. He was always careful to ration them out and he never flooded the market with them. They were selling in the $80 -- $100 range at the time. A princely sum back when some threadless had just topped the $100 plateau. Fritz never set up at an insulator show. He was just a purveyor. Now you know the rest of the story behind this Toledo cobalt no name pony.