THREE NEW FOREIGN INSULATOR STYLES
TO SHOW YOU THIS MONTH

The first one is a beautiful glass power insulator that was originally found by John Nasci during a trip to Sicily in 1998 (refer to the article "Land of the T-bar" written by John Nasci and published in the March 2000 issue of Crown Jewels magazine). John didn't have much luck finding the insulators he was looking for but shortly before his trip back to America he came across a downed high voltage pole with six large glass multiparts attached to it. He thought about taking all of these insulators home but that much weight seemed impracticable so he carried only one example back to the States. Here are three photos of the insulator, each taken from a different angle.

Viewing at eye level.

Looking down from above.

Note the inner skirts in the top two shells.

The glass color of this insulator is a pretty light green. "FIDENZA" is embossed on one side of the crown and "T/RP5-UNEL" appears in the same location on the opposite side. All three shells have mold or date marks. Oddly enough there is a threaded copper insert in the pin hole that can accept standard U.S. insulator pins! The insulator is 8-1/2" in height and measures 7-1/2" across the base on which it stands. The diameter of the top shell is 9-1/2" and the middle shell measures 7-7/8" across. 

John eventually sold the insulator to Mike Roediger who said "Somehow I feel this story could have been told by Paul Harvey as "The rest of the story" - and he began to explain why.

When Mike bought the insulator he assumed that it was a CD 379.5, because that's what John called it, but when he pulled out his copy of "Glass Insulators from Outside North America" to find more information on this piece, it didn't quite match the dimensions or the design. After doing some research, he discovered that this insulator wasn't even in the book - there was just no match for it. That didn't bother him too much because he had hoped it would be enough different to warrant a new CD assignment from N.R.Woodward - and that's exactly what happened! Thanks to Woody, the insulator has now been classified as new CD 378.7.

Mike believes the insulator is of relatively recent production because the cement that holds the shells together is pure white and looks fairly fresh. He also says the presence of inner skirts in the two top shells is unusual because that isn't exactly the normal European practice. Nevertheless; he is very proud of his new acquisition.

A tiny little Gingerbread Baby with Big Brother

To date, the little white porcelain Gingerbread "Baby" on the left in the photo is the smallest example known of this style. It measures 2" in height and and has a base diameter of 1-3/4". As you can see, it has many cracks in the shell that are being held together by the twisted wire around the neck of the insulator and the tiny sawed off metal pin that's cemented in the pin hole. There is an inner skirt but it is fractured in several places. Fortunately all the necessary parts are more or less in place. This little creature was found by Jim Bergman on the side of a building in France. He said it was being used for telephone service. The larger porcelain Gingerbread "Boy" on the right in the photo is familiar to most collectors and is included for size comparison. Both of these insulators are unmarked.

Is it a Noser or a Spook?

I don't know what to call this little porcelain creature but I just love it! It's so ugly it's cute. Jim Bergman also found this one on a building in France being used for telephone service. It is 2-5/8" tall and measures 1-3/4" across the base. The distance from the left side of the crown to the end of the "nose" is exactly 2". It has an inner skirt and a sawed off metal pin is cemented in the pin hole. This insulator doesn't have any marking either but that's very common practice for such a small insulator.

I hope to have some new glass to show you next time. It's fun sharing colors, new CD numbers and countries of origin etc. with all of our readers! Just think of all the insulators that are still waiting to be found!!