There have been so many new porcelain items reported over the past year that we just do not have the time or space to discuss all of them. In fact, many will probably go unreported in PIN. That is what makes collecting porcelain so interesting - there is always something new that we have not seen before. A lot of new things have shown up recently in the realm of multipart porcelain insulators, but that will have to wait for another time. I've been trying to catch up on making drawings for new U-styles. Many new reports of unipart styles are waiting for me to finish the final ink drawings. I'm working on a supplement to Jack Tod's U-Chart that will have all the new unipart styles that have been assigned since Jack's Porcelain Insulator Guide Book was published in 1988. The supplement should be ready next spring. So, if you have any potential new unipart styles to report, now is the time to report them.

James Lindsey, Jr. (NIA #3750) recently sent in several reports. The first one is the Thomas "lazy S" marking. This incuse "S" marking is an "S" that has been stretched a bit. It can be found on U-296 and U-388 found in the Seattle area. The marking is more often found on U-296 and without the THOMAS marking. James reported finding a U-629 with the "lazy-S" marking. He would like to find a U-388 to complete the set of three different styles so let him know if you have one for trade. If any of you have other styles with the "lazy-S" marking, I would like to hear from you.

Last March James purchased a U-432A at the Chesapeake Bay Insulator Show. These are somewhat common and can be found in interesting glazes. What makes this particular specimen even more interesting is it has two separate letter markings under the top skirt. One is an incuse "E" and the other an incuse "L". The marking appears to be inside a circle but the circle is actually an impression left by the end of the marking punch.

We do not know what the markings represent. Thomas used letters and several odd symbol-type markings on multipart porcelain insulators. They could have been used to indicate a particular trimmer operator since the marking was applied before glazing and assembly. 

Another interesting Thomas marking was found on U-297. It has the usual incuse THOMAS marking on top with a large "GK" above and perpendicular to the "M". 

Another interesting insulator James reported was a dark blue U-663A with Ohio Brass logo marking on top in the crown dimple on the side of the cable groove. It is located just below and inside the circular firing rest on top of the crown. That is an unusual location for the O-B marking, but the interesting feature is the bottom edge of the inner skirt. There are four evenly spaced projections with a number of thin ribs between each projection. I doubt that they were intended for a specific purpose. It was mostly likely the result of the design of the plunger in an effort to prevent the clay from sticking to the plunger when it was withdrawn.

Earlier this year, Howard Banks (NIA #900), Bill Ostrander (NIA #6306) and other members of the Jefferson State Insulator Club went on an insulator hunt near Burney, CA. They found many broken Fred Locke porcelain multiparts including one that is very unusual. They found the core of an M-2796, which had a glazewelded sleeve or insert inside the bottom skirt. The top skirt had the #6-2 Fred Locke marking and a 1901 manufacturing date. The M-2795 with glass bottom skirt was the first style made and later M-2796 was produced which had a porcelain bottom skirt. Evidently they did not have a means to form the threaded pinhole deep inside the skirt so a small insert was threaded and glazewelded inside the skirt. The inner surface of the bottom skirt even had a ridge formed so the extended lip of the insert would fit flush. No known specimen of M-2796 exists with this feature. The two photographs show the glazewelded insert very clearly. One of Howard's photographs shows that this M-2796 was put together with sulfur cement as were nearly all of the M-2795's. If anyone has a M-2796 with the threaded insert, please contact me.

Badly broken M-2796 with threaded insert.

Close-up showing detail of threaded insert in M-2796.

My new book, Multipart Porcelain Insulators, 2nd edition, shows dozens of photographs never published before and never seen by collectors. One group of five photographs shows the factory of New Lexington High Voltage Porcelain Co. in New Lexington, OH (see page 111 and page 359). The company was started in March 1903 and went out of business in 1912 and the property was sold to General Porcelain Co. in 1918. The photographs were on one page in the 1907 C. S. Knowles catalog. These were the only known photographs of the factory and I have a Xerox copy from the only New Lexington catalog published in 1908. I do not know where the original catalog is now.

Jim Murphy has three postcards, two of which have a photograph of the New Lexington factory. Jim recently sent me scans of each photograph and I hope they show up well here.

Postcard showing the New Lexington factory. 
Note the opening in the roof on the left side of the building,
which is the location of one of the kilns.

The first photograph is the earliest as it shows only one tall smokestack. The extension in the building on the left clearly shows an opening in the roof with one small smokestack. This is the location of one of the kilns. The second postcard is from a different angle and shows two tall smokestacks. 

Postcard showing another view of the New Lexington factory.
Note the two tall smokestacks.

Postcard showing artist's rendition of the New Lexington factory.
Note the name of the factory is Consumers Insulator Co.

The third postcard is an artistic illustration of the factory. Note that the buildings look much larger and extensive, roads provide modern access, and there appears to be pleasant surroundings with some activity. This is in great contrast to the plain wooden structure and modest size of the actual factory. Note, too, the caption on the postcard states "Plant of the Consumers Insulator Company". After a sheriff's sale of the factory and property of the bankrupt New Lexington High Voltage Porcelain Co. in 1912, it was sold to the Consumers Insulator Co. for $1 on November 15,1914. Then it was sold for $1 to Virginia Potteries (Charleston, WV) on December 8, 1916. The Consumers Insulator Co. never operated the factory. The postcard, produced in 1915-1916, did not accurately represent the true condition of the factory. All of this history and more details were the result of research by Rick Soller (NIA #2958) a number of years ago and published in Jack Tod's Porcelain Insulator Guide Book.