Dear Jack: 

Some time ago you mentioned "Hescho" insulators in your column. They were used here in Regina by the local power company, City Light & Power, which has since been taken over by Saskatchewan Power Corporation. 

I know these Hescho's are brown and are from Japan. They are similar to U-597, 3-5/8" wide by 3" tall, glazed overall except in the pin cavity, incise marking on one side of the top parallel to the wire groove. 

I don't know when they were put in service, but they were used in the older downtown section of the city (which has since been buried -- some five or six years ago). 
Bill Lovely, NIA #390 
Regina, Sask. 

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Dear Bill: 

Thanks very much for this additional info on the HESCHO items. Evidently they were used by several Canadian utility companies -- and in various styles, glazes, marking types. It would be helpful, especially to Canadian collectors, if someone could visit or call one of the utilities involved to see if they still have in their files a catalog or flyer sheets on these so that we could decode the meaning of the HESCHO marking -- manufacturer, etc. 

Jack

Dear Jack:

I'm happy to say that the first book you sent to me over six weeks ago (1) and lost by the P.O. finally arrived. I took it to work and sold it to the first person that looked at it, so I'm enclosing a check for the second (replacement) copy you had airmailed to me. 

My copy of the book has answered many of my questions, and I think it's great and certainly useful to collectors. I guess I'll have to admit that I'm getting hooked on porcelain insulators, and I collect old power types, both unipart and multipart ones. I have several multis and, since I'm an amateur photographer, would you be interested in some black & white photos of the multis I have, together with descriptions, for your column? 

I have a U-926A with the #6-1 Fred M. Locke marking (and with the Sept. 26 error). Is this the normal marking for this insulator, and does this insulator in brown fit in the $20 to $40 range shown in your book? 
Tom Kasner 
Casper, Wyoming 

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Dear Tom: 

We can always use clear and contrasty black/white photos of items for the column, but mainly if they are of definite interest to readers -- something unusual, ones that have an interesting story behind their use or that were found in an unusual place or way. You'll find that in the entire magazine, not just this column, we try to include things of real interest to readers and shy away from what I've always termed "filler material" that readers would instantly recognize as such. Even if letters have no real bearing on insulators themselves, we print them if they are of interest to friends and fellow collectors, but if we lack suitable material, we would rather just have a skinny column (or skinny magazine) that month than publish something non-useful. And by the way, I consider most of the cartoons, poems and one-liners we do use are of interest to readers, or they wouldn't be there! 

The Fred M. Locke specimen you mention is definitely a valuable collector item, but it's difficult for one person (me!) to try to estimate monetary values of specimens, and especially ones I haven't even seen. The values shown in the book are only the consensus opinion of myself and three others. Your specimen would probably be valued in the $20 to $40 range, but it would depend on the buyer and seller, not on what I or someone else listed it at. Also, as I've said before, a $10 insulator won't sell any better with even a $2 sticker on it if no collector happens by who wants it for his collection or trading and resale purposes. The only true way to establish values is by an "auction market", but this just isn't possible for some of these old and scarce items which are bought or sold so infrequently, if ever. 

Jack

For several years Gerald Brown (Colorado) was quite interested in and had collected Standard Porcelain and other wiring insulators. He finally decided that such a collection would be a good gift to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Upon inquiry there, he found that they had no collection of such insulators and that they would be happy to receive such a collection. 

Gerald had asked me if I could assist by filling in some missing gaps in the collection of Standard Porcelain items and also to help him with some of the attributions. The end result was that we quickly decided that if we pooled our efforts in such a project, a good representation of these insulators could be made for the Smithsonian. 

The snapshot above shows approximately 1/3 of the specimens in the ultimate shipment, and those in the photo were from Gerald's collection. I myself furnished an additional 60 specimens, but unfortunately we didn't photo the entire ensemblage before Gerald got is shipped off to Washington. Gerald furnished the Smithsonian with a very detailed list of attributions for all specimens together with a gratis copy of the book "Electrical Porcelain", and I furnished some general historical information concerning the specific collection being donated. 

Gerald not only initiated this project but did the lion's share of the work. Not to mention all the attribution work, just packing the shipment (over 100 pounds!) was quite a task. We believe these insulators are an important historical link to the evolution of the electrical lighting industry, and we are relieved to know the specimens and information is now safely preserved in a historic place for the future benefit of our successor historians. 

This collection will not be on display, at least for the time being, but is being stored for future use. It is located in the National Museum of History and Technology, Division of Electricity and Modern Physics. 

Jack & Gerald

Dear Jack: 

I have read your book recently received and find it to be very helpful to me. I have learned quite a bit about porcelain insulators, and have even started collecting certain types of them, as they are plentiful here. About half of the secondary (low voltage) insulators here are porcelain, and most of them are the old ones. Whenever an old line comes down, all of these old porcelain secondary insulators are thrown away, and only the glass is saved for reuse. That means I am able to bring home all of these old porcelain that I want. Incidentally, almost all the glass here is McLaughlin, and I have picked up a good number of them also. 

The main reason I am writing is to say that I found three of the oddball insulators described to you before and as I have sketched here (see above). These are U-418 Locke "fog bell" with an upturned copper fog shroud (pan) held in place by the pin. I suspect the shroud was also a Locke item. It seems to me that this arrangement could not be used where it snows much since, even with the drain hole, it would fill up and short out the line. But Monterey is like Phoenix in that we do not see snow very often. 

I was wondering what you would figure the trade value of these to be? Also, how rare would they be, and how many places would they have been used? This April there is an old line that will be changed, and there will be 4 more of these coming down and which I can perhaps obtain. 

I have also found some Fred M. Locke U-611's with patent date markings, and they are in quite a number of colors from tan through yellowish and silvery to black. Would these be any good to collectors of Fred Locke items? 

Two other insulators I have which are of interest are a Sim U-625B Pittsburg (very weak incuse marking) and a multipart similar to U-926 but not the same. Could you give me any information an these items? 

There is a possibility of me obtaining a U-924 or U-925 (hard to tell which from the ground). It has a brown glaze and appears to be in mint condition. Around the Monterey area there are many collectors, but no porcelain collectors at all. They were way too busy liberating the purple Californias that were ever so plentiful here at one time. About 30 years ago, P G & E seems to have switched from porcelain to glass and thus missed out on the rather boring modern chocolate browns that abound in other areas. I have found none of those at all, nor anything newer either.

Incidentally, my sister lives in Australia, and I have about 40 insulators she has sent to me from there in just the past 3 or 4 months. The power company there uses only porcelain, and I am sure that makes you happy. But this will make you sad; the phone company there uses only glass which is rose pink or purple (some clear ones also)! 
Robert Chiantelli 
Monterey, Calif. 

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Dear Robert: 

Thanks for info re the U-418 with copper pan. Needless to say the copper pan has no connection specifically with the U-418, and any similar insulator could have been used just as well. I remember years ago of someone telling me of this similar arrangement on lines elsewhere in California. 

There is a possibility the reason for the copper pan was to protect the insulators from physical damage (thrown rocks, etc.), since about everything else was also tried to cure that problem; there is even a patent for a metal shroud attached to the bottoms of pin types for this same reason. But since the U-418 was originally designed and used as a "fog" insulator, this makes a pretty strong case for the copper pan to also be connected with fog problems.

They are an interesting item, and many collectors would probably like to get one. I don't have any idea of what you should expect for trade value; just depends on how excited other collectors are about them. If they are for fog use, I'd think they were used only in limited areas, maybe experimentally only. It's probable that few have survived since their original use because of line rebuilding. 

Any item with Fred M. Locke markings are collector items, but the small ones such as U-611 are the most common of the styles in collector circles; many have come from old lines in central and northern California. Trade value on these more common Fred Locke items is probably thus only in the range of $3 to $4 at best. 

The items such as U-924 and U-925 would be worth trying to get, The U-924 is an Imperial item. The U-925 is one of the very early Fred M. Locke items, and these are quite scarce. These eared items are very scarce in brown, but seems I recall having heard of them before. They were cataloged for some years after 1900, so that accounts for the brown ones. I have a hunch that if you got these down and in your hands you'd find a "VICTOR" marking of some form (marking after end of Fred Locke markings used up to the early 1900's). 

Interesting that PG&E went to a preference for glass in the past, since nearly all utilities in the country did it the other way around! There are a few glass power insulators in use in Arizona, but they were put up during the temporary insulator shortage in 1960's when others weren't available. These are being taken down and discarded at any times lines are being serviced or rebuilt. 

Jack

Dear Jack: 

I'm writing to you about an insulator I found about two weeks ago. It is white glaze, bottom firing rest, and I am pretty sure it is a three-piece mold. It's unmarked, and looking from the bottom it's out of round and misshaped. The dome is also old or crude looking, and when you look down on top of it, you see flat spots here and there around the insulator. It reminds you of an oversize glass CD-143 because of its straight sides. 

In all my years of insulator hunting I have never seen any until I found these four. One of them has a snow white glaze on it and looks like a piece of fine china. Am hoping you can help me with info on these insulators. 

Also found some Thomas insulators (U-239) in dark brown and mottled brown with a large raised embossing "THOMAS" just below the wire groove. 
Claude A. Wambold, NIA #1717 
Perkiomenville, PA 

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Dear Claude: 

Sorry, but can't tell you much about those old beehives. We have several (U-142, 143, 143A) in the porcelain style chart which approximate these with the straight-up skirts. 

Thomas showed these in their 1904 catalog as "W.U. TYPE" (white or brown glaze), and I found pieces of them in the old Thomas dumpage at Lisbon, Ohio -- some with small wire grooves, plus some with this larger groove. The style was shown in their 1907 catalog, but not in the 1912 and later Thomas catalogs. 

Beehives with vertical skirts were also made by Pittsburg, but they were generally smaller and without the interior petticoat -- the styles made for and exported to Canadian railroads & which do approximate CD-143 size and shape.

The various specimens such as yours that I have seen all appear to be uniformly old items (pre-1920's). Whereas the more modern porcelain beehives are rather ho-hum items, these old ones do have a marked collector value. 

Incidentally, those old Thomas items with the embossed (raised) THOMAS marking are no deadbeats. These are dry process items made in the 1910-1915 era, give or take a few years, and they are the only pin types ever made by Thomas with an embossed THOMAS marking. Both the styles U-239 and U-294A of these are a bit scarce and thus have a fair trade value. 

Jack

Dear Jack: 

... and am enclosing a check for your second edition of "Porcelain Insulators Guide Book", even though I have the earlier edition. I save only Locke porcelain, but he manufactured so many, it seems like a lot. If you can refer me to other helpful publications, I'll respect your authority. 

Actually, I collect glass insulators, but I have found that to collect Locke glass, you must also collect all his other works. I think I have every known piece that Brookfield made for him, but as time passes new things always seem to appear. 

Currently we here in the midwest have formed a club to get together and explore and have fun. We have not even reached a point where we have a charter, nor do we even have elected officers. We have about 20 members, of which 6 of us showed up in Denver last year and really had a great time. One member is from Denver, and he & his collector family have made two get togethers in the last 4 months. Not bad. Our group has mostly western Iowa and eastern Nebraska people, but we have 2 members from Missouri. We are surprised that "other" pioneers in the hobby such as Jack Riesselman, Tom Wolfe, Warren Olson and others did not ever form a regional club nor attempt a large midwestern show. 

Well, we are having a show (Mar 22-23, 1980) and so far, as expected, it is a lot of work, fun and excitement. We hope the fever will last and that the whole fraternity gets excited.... We did not attempt a 100% insulator type show at this time, because we asked and got the Omaha bottle club support and other collectors in our area. 
Paul Ickes, NIA #1325 
Council Bluffs, Iowa 

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Dear Paul: 

The one book which you should by all means have, although I'm sure you'd already have it, is "Fred M. Locke & his Insulators", Gerald Brown, 1977. It's $3.50, from Gerald. I and others helped Gerald on this book over a couple year period, and it's just about as complete on Fred Locke as you could ever expect -- an excellent reference. 

The book by Brent Mills, if still available, has considerable historical info relating to Fred Locke and places and things he touched, but that material is somewhat duplicated in our later books oriented to insulator collecting. See the bibliographies in my books for info on it. 

Numerous other collectors also specialize in only Fred M. Locke insulators, but not necessarily because of the association with his glass ones (a la Brookfield). There is endless variety with modern porcelains, many of which are strictly ho-hum items, and it's difficult to draw limits on large general collections as far as finding shelf space for them. It's no wonder then that the more active porcelain buffs soon start specializing in one way or another -- usually the insulators of one company, such as Imperial, Pittsburg, Illinois, Fred M. Locke., etc.

Fred Locke insulators as a specialty is very popular because the history of the operation is so interesting, the insulators involved are mostly very unusual styles, and they are all unquestionably true antique items. Even with all the Fred Locke variety, housing a growing collection is possible, and you quickly get to the point where you don't need just everything you see at insulator shows. Some Fred Locke items are rather common, others ranging to the very-rare class. To most collectors, bringing home and setting on the shelf one rare and unusual Fred Locke item is much more satisfying than bringing home 50 more different chocolate brown Ohio Brass cables and trying to figure out where to store them out in the tool shed! 

I certainly agree with you that local collectors could do well to organize in small groups such as you are doing. Just informal meetings (without clubs per se) will do wonders. The National Insulator Association has continually tried to push any such local activity, but I'm not certain how successful the effort has been to date. Certainly other local collectors have done as you are doing, either with or without formation of clubs, but we may just not hear about it. It's for that reason that I'm happy to include your letter in the magazine column. 

Major insulator shows are just too few and too far between, and getting to insulator shows will be even harder as travel costs become prohibitive in the near future. There are just too few collectors in any one area who have an interest in most collecting hobbies to put on a show of their own, and insulator collecting is certainly not a large hobby as they go. It makes real sense that several hobby groups in one town or area can get together and put on a combined show -- one which can justify facilities and trappings we all associate with real fun shows.

Insulator collectors in our area recently got together with the bottle collectors, beer can collectors and others and held a real super show in Phoenix. I'm sure that in the future, it will be an absolute necessity to have conglomerate collector shows -- or none at all! 

The National Insulator Association long ago recognized the relationship between collector numbers and show facilities possible, and therefore the NIA Regionals are permitted as "conglomerate" shows (but with a priority to insulator table applications up to some reasonable cutoff date). These conglomerate-type Regional shows have been very successful. In anticipation of travel severely restricted by high fuel costs and/or rationing (especially by 1981), we have at least given thought to allowing conglomerate status (with insulator table priority to a cutoff date) for the annual NIA National show. Inasmuch as the entire character and scheduling of the three annual NIA shows is only a matter of Board of Directors action and does not require a time-consuming membership vote, there is flexibility to quickly make changes as the situation dictates down the road from this point in time. 

Jack

Dear Jack: 

It's been a little over two years since we wrote to you about finding the brown U-393 Pittsburg porcelain. We are sending you a photo of our one and only brown U-393, as well as photos of some other items we've found, and we would appreciate any information on them. 
John Palyo & Son, NIA #1727 & #1728 
Flushing, N.Y. 

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Dear John: 

The super goody is your U-393 in brown glaze. Other than yours, and possibly one other, the only known brown specimens are some broken ones found by Jerry Turner in the old Pittsburg plant dumpage. The known white ones came from one hoard of 30 or so found at an old western power plant several years ago. 

Of the several other porcelains you asked about, the one of real note is the U-205 transposition (made by Cook Porcelain Insulator Corp.). This is a real sneaky TUF item to come by for transposition collectors. To say the least, our guess as to $20 value a few years ago is on the conservative side. 

Your tall composition cable insulator embossed with "ALBERT & J. M. ANDERSON MFG. CO., BOSTON., MASS. U.S.A." may be a new item, but a similar one with Westinghouse marking and slightly different composition material is known in collector circles. I'd rate this A & J M one as a fairly good item. 

Your black Bakelite one Sim U-287B is one I've never seen before, but a similar one is listed in Gerald Brown's book "Unique Collectible Insulators". As I've said before, anyone who hasn't considered specializing in composition and plastic pin type insulators has missed a fun and interesting possibility. 

Also, no one has researched the manufacturers and history of these items yet, so that's wide open too! 

Jack