More Great Finds From Our 2005 Visit to France
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", December 2005, page 22
This photo shows a giant noser made by ISOREX (Charbonneaux et Cie of Reims,
France). We found 5 of these beauties on an abandoned sub-station in the middle
of a small town. After a great deal of back and forth as to who had the rights
to the building, the Mayor of the town stepped forward and wrote us a letter
giving us permission to remove all of the insulators. Unfortunately we could
only get 4 of the 5.
This noser is huge. It has ISOREX embossed on one side but no visible number
on the other side. This insulator is No. 255 "lsolateurs de descente a une
branche d'accrochage". Dimensions: 148 mm x 98 mm (5-13/16" x
3-7/8"). Diameter of the screw shaft: 24 mm (15/16"). Weight: 1,390 grams. There is a second insulator in this series. It is No. 254.
Dimensions: 135
mm x 83 mm (5-5/16"x3-1/4"). Diameter of screw shaft: 21 mm (27/32
"). Weight: 960 grams. (See catalog diagrams for details).
CD 407
This photo (page 24) shows two previously unlisted CD 407 insulators. These
insulators came from Romania via a French friend. The light aqua is embossed
"TURDA" on one side and S.A.R. de T 408" on the other side. The
second is a dark green black glass insulator with the embossing "C.S.",
below that "S.A.R. de T", and below that "I.13". The other
side is embossed VM within a circle. Dimensions: 102 mm x 69 mm (4" x
2-23/32"). This second insulator was probably made by the
Verreries de Masnieres of Masnieres, France for S.A.R. de T. In
Marilyn Albers and N.R. Woodwards "Glass Insulators from Outside North
America" they write of the VM within a circle trademark being used by the
manufacturer Cartel Vidiera Monterrey of Mexico. At the time of writing it was
not known that the VM within a circle was the trademark of the Verreries de
Masnieres.
CD 640
Verreries de Masnieres
While on the subject of the Verreries de Masnieres we recently found an
interesting insulator at an antique store in France. It is a CD 640 dark green
gingerbread embossed VM within a circle on one side and "FRANCE" on
the other side indicating that the Verreries de Masnieres made insulators for
export. Dimensions: 100 mm x 68 mm (3-15/16" x 2-11 /16") (see photo,
page 24).
AND FOR THE FOREIGN PORCELAIN COLLECTORS.
Here are some great porcelain insulators from our 2005 visit to France:
Two
photos of some unusual stripped porcelain insulators. The three horizontally
stripped porcelain insulators are white with red stripe, white with blue stripe
and white with yellow stripe & one diagonal white with yellow stripe. After
many trips to France these are the first insulators we have seen with stripes in
these colors.
They were found on an occasionally used railway line where the poles were
being dismantled. There were many of the same style of insulator without stripes
on the approximately 30 km line but it was only on about 1 km of this line that
had the stripped insulators.
Dimensions: 132 mm x 83 mm (5-3/16" x
3-1/4")
Weights: red - 2 lbs; yellow - 1.8 lbs; blue - 1.5 lbs &
diagonal yellow 1.5 lbs.
The next two photos show two new porcelain insulators that are new to the
porcelain gingerbread family. Both these insulators were found on an old factory
that once made burlap. This porcelain gingerbread is much older and more crudely
made.
Dimensions: 132 mm x 100 mm (5-3/16" x 3-15/16")
Arm span: 140
mm (5-1/2")
Weight: 2.2 lbs
The bottom photo shows a very large and heavy gingerbread insulator. We
believe that this is the largest gingerbread to be found so far.
Dimensions: 153
mm x 116 mm (6" x 4-9/16").
Arm span: 165 mm (6-1/2")
Weight: 4
lbs.
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