Me And The 143 (#10)
by Grant Salzman, NIA #1785
Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", April 1981, page 13
As promised in the last
article, this column will finish up with the remainder of mold style #1D, by
dealing with those 143's embossed with G.N.R., G.P.R. and STANDARD, plus some
no-name types.
G.N.R. and G.P.R. No one seems to know for sure what these
initials stood for. It has been said that the embossings were errors, and the
"G" should have been a "C". Others speculate that G.N.R.
stood for Great Northern Railway, an American line that branched into British
Columbia, etc. I don't really agree with many of the theories presented. The
"error" idea seems weak, because someone would have had to take a good
C.P.R. mold and deliberately add something. This seems unlikely to have been
done in error. It also seems unlikely that an American Railway would have their
name placed on Canadian Telegraph insulators. Besides, I don't think that G.N.R.
"finds" have been centralized in B.C. at all. So perhaps all of this
will remain a mystery for a while longer.
(Drawing is by Clay Salzman)
So far I have seen only two embossing
types each on the G.N.R. and the G.P.R. Only one G.N.R. could have been a new
mold. The others were reworks of molds that had once been CNR, and some probably
CPR as well.
G.N.R.
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1.
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F -- G.N.R.
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B -- Standard
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Aqua (The Gauchi-McDonald study also
notes the existence of this variety in a pale blue and an SCA, but I have never
seen one.)
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2.
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F -- G.N.R. over a blot-out of a small cnr
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B -- Standard
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Aqua
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G.P.R.
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1.
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F -- G.P.R. over a blot-out of a large CNR and a small cnr
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B -- Standard (The
lettering on this variety is 1/2" tall.)
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Aqua, SCA, Steel Blue
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2.
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Same as
above, except the lettering on this variety has been re-worked and enlarged. It
is 9/16" tall, and the angled leg of the "R" is short (R).
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Aqua,
SCA
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As mentioned in an earlier article, the embossing
"STANDARD" was considered to be secondary, unless it was used by
itself. I feel that the term "Standard" was originally meant to
indicate that there was no inner skirt, but that later editions were produced
with this embossing only in order to allow them to be used on various lines.
STANDARD
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1.
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F -- STANDARD
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Aqua, Lt. Aqua, Lt. Aqua with milk swirls, Gray, Lt.
SCA, Medium Purple
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2.
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F -- STANDARD
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B -- Blot-out of a small cnr
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Lt. Aqua, Pale SCA,
Lt. Purple, Med. Purple, Royal Purple
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3.
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F -- STANDARD over a blot-out of a large
CNR
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Aqua, Aqua with milk swirls, Pale Aqua
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4.
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F -- STANDARD
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B -- Blot-out of a large
CNR
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Aqua, Deep Olive Green Blackglass
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5.
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F -- STANDARD over a blot-out of Canadian
Pacific Ry Co
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Aqua, Lt. Aqua with milk swirls, Pale Gray-Green, Deep Olive Green
Blackglass
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6.
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F -- STANDARD over a blot-out of a large CNR
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B -- Blot-out of a large
CNR
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Aqua
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I have never seen a mold style #1D no-name that didn't have some traces
of a blot-out or re-worked mold. However, it is possible that "clean"
varieties exist, because many collectors do not examine no-names carefully. I
list here those types that I have seen; but if you know of other varieties,
please let me know.
No-names
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1.
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F -- Blot-out of Canadian Pacific Ry Co
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Aqua, Lt.
Blue
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2.
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F -- Blot-out of Canadian Pacific Ry Co
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B -- Blot-out of Standard
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Aqua
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3.
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F -- Blot-out of a small cnr
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B -- Blot-out of Standard
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Aqua
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4.
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F -- Blot-out of a
large CNR
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Aqua (Gauchi-McDonald also lists this type in ice blue and Royal
Purple, but I have not seen them.)
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5.
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F -- Blot-out of a large CNR
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B -- Blot-out of a large CPR
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Aqua
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6.
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F -- Some horizontal dashes over what appears
to be a blot- out
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Aqua
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Prices: The G.P.R. aqua is priced a trifle too high in
the book, but the SCA is priced about right. The G.N.R. is erroneously listed in
the book as having an MLOD, but the aqua variety should sell for the same as the
aqua G.P.R. If there is an SCA variety of the G.N.R. that exists, it would be
much more expensive.
The STANDARD prices are about right in the book, with a
couple of major exceptions: To a specialist the Royal Purple with the blot-out
of the small cnr is much more desirable than the usual run-of-the-mill Purple
STANDARD. The other gross variance is the Blackglass STANDARD. Either variety is
very rare, and one sold at the Herkimer National for $350.!! Some collectors may
consider this price too high, but it sure is closer to reality than the book
price of $24.!!
It is tough to estimate the value of the no-name varieties, but
I would guess that they should be about double the usual aqua price. However, if
the Gauchi-McDonald purple variety exists, it would be worth much more.
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