With adrenaline still flowing from my earlier discoveries, I didn't waste any time deciding on a game plan. It was time to find more T-bars and recover the elusive purple Zicme!! The Western Regional Show (May 1991) in San Luis Obispo would soon arrive, and I wanted to have some choice beauties to display at the show. I took my two Colombian friends and we were off and running. We've searched Colombia's Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the rolling mountains of coffee country, the smallest pueblos in the capital cities, and High Plateaus, lowest valleys, largest rivers, paved and dirt roads -- you name it, we've looked there! Let me forewarn you that what you are about to read may convince you foreign insulator collecting is the only way to go! 

We began our search in Colombia's capital city of Bogota and surrounding cities. I knew that a circa 1925 Hermsdorf T-Bar (U-2079) had been recovered in Bogota, but it seemed impossible to locate. The day arrived when we ventured outside of our routine area and practically stumbled across a gold mine of T-Bars!! There must have been a dozen or more on this street -- in many styles and shapes. Most were unrecognizable as they were covered with decades of paint and cement that had spilled on them since their installation. After receiving permission and locating a ladder, we were able to recover them with a hacksaw and supply of blades. It was fun cleaning them up because we never knew what style, mark or stamp we might discover. After all the dust settled, we were able to recover the following beauties: U-2079 Hermsdorf, 2 Richard Ginori's (U-number unassigned), 4 different large T-Bars (one with a soccer ball embossing), 3 nosers, and several different small T-bars!

One day while walking in my neighborhood, I spotted what looked like a pair of porcelain eyes looking at me from up high on a wall of an old home. They turned out to be Sim U-339 porcelains on a unique "Twin Pin". The insulator is unique in that it has a squared dome with 2 sides rounded. The two pins were welded together into one pin. Later on I recovered one of them and nicknamed it the "Bogota Twin-Pin". (Pictured below) To date, their only function observed was to tie the wire through their 1/2 inch hold to secure it from a pole to the building, in a similar way as T-Bars have been used here. And recently, I spotted three U-2063 Richard Ginori spooks! Unfortunately they were still in service. I was lucky to recover a damaged one, but still hoping to find a mint one. 

The recovery of the elusive SCA CD 154 Zicme continued to motivate me to continue my search. Success came slowly with a couple of unembossed greyish-lavenders found on disconnected poles outside of Bogota. But after months of searching, we sought out new hunting ground and practically stumbled upon a section of telephone lines completely disconnected with all the wires hanging down and even a few poles removed! Among other beauties I saw a gorgeous royal purple CD 154 Zicme!! We had to recover it I told myself, but it was very tough as the pole was very tall and the cement was slippery! Eventually, my friend made it to the top and tossed down the treasure. I thought I was going to never take my eyes off that rich deep purple! It turned out to be chipped, but it was so beautiful and rare (first known!) that it didn't bother me one bit. We returned the next day and followed the line still further and recovered 4 more royals (2 of which were VVNM) and a couple sage and light green CD 154 Zicmes. In the same area on a later trip an exciting new embossing was found-a squatty shaped CD 154 VI-BO (crude embossing) in olive green!! It remains the only CD 154 with this mark found to date. During these early days, nearly every single Zicme recovered had damage -- usually on its drips. I concluded that the glass must be quite fragile. 

CD 154 VI-BO and CD 106 VI-BO

With apparently no more insulators available in this area we were ready to move on. Our next plan of attack: take a weekend drive and see what we can find! And what we saw intermittently filled the car with oohs and ahhs! Everything from light purple CD 106s, lavender CD 154' s, dark forest green CD 447 No Name, yellow-straw CD 203 Telecoms, and more!! We stopped at a roadside restaurant and seconds later my friend returned to the car and handed me a gorgeous violet purple CD 154 Zicme! ! We were all happy and ready to find a place to rest for the night. In the morning we took a drive around town and walked along some abandoned railroad tracks and surprisingly didn't see anything special. On our walk back to the car we spotted an old iron pole with some disconnected CD 154s on it. My friend climbed the pole and recovered a bubbly yellow green Zicme and 2 gorgeous purple Zicmes. He proudly posed for a photo in front of an 1889 train that once traveled these same lines. We knew we were touching history. 

On our way home we saw more insulators, but most were still in service. Upon seeing an old metal pole with several colorful disconnected insulators on it, we stopped immediately. In a few minutes my friend was bringing me a small bag filled with 3 forest green CD 447 No Names, CD 154 Zicmes in a gorgeous bubbly lavender, light purple, and an incredible violet purple! I now knew I would have some nice pieces to display at the NIA Western Regional.

Gustavo proudly displays CD 154 Zicmes 
recovered from abandoned railroad lines.

I decided to delay my trip to California for one more week, hoping to find more treasures to bring with me. And what a jackpot I hit that last weekend. We were driving again outside of Bogota, this time on a different highway, and we ran across a stretch of telephone lines with all kinds of colored CD 154 Zicme on them. Still further, we noticed a downed wire on one pole and we all began to speculate as to whether or not this line was out of service. A little further we noticed more and more wires down until we came to a section where they were all down. It was a miracle I yelled. My two friends worked as a team as they freed about three dozen beauties from the poles. At the end of the day, we arrived at our hotel with the following CD 154 Zicmes: a milk blue opal, smoke-purple two-tone, unembossed sage, violet, lavender and some nice shades of green filled with thousands of bubbles. Unfortunately, no royal purples were recovered on this trip. They continue to be one of the most elusive Zicmes of all.

I shipped the beauties to California where they were waiting for me when I got home on vacation. This being my first show, never displayed before, and unable to sort through the insulators before arrival -- added up to a very hectic but exciting time for me in San Luis Obispo. Based on the overwhelming response and meeting friendly collectors for the first time, I knew I was in the right hobby! 

When I returned to Colombia, we decided to focus our searches on old telegraph lines and abandoned railroad lines. This took us to many off-road travels out in the countryside. We saw some of the prettiest birds in the most brilliant colors known on some of these trips. But in the process, I damaged the muffler and broke an axle support bar on my poor Dodge Colt. So, it was time to reinvestigate Bogota. I began by walking throughout as many safe neighborhoods as I could. Over a period of time I was able to recover the following incredible pieces: beautiful peacock, cobalt blue, and lime spools: multipart "umbrella or mushroom" style porcelains with an East German Hermsdorf trademark embossing and a Swiss-made "S in a green triangle" marking; a couple Italian Richard Ginori T-Bars; Sim U-1743 with a dark green stripe, a Belgian Sim U-434 with an unusual green stamp "PETRE A BAUDOUR", and more.

German and Gustavo holding the 
elusive Royal Purple CD 154 Zicmes

One discouraging thing for me was that I had been unsuccessful in locating or recovering an embossed CD 106 or CD 203 Zicme. I knew that a few CD 106 and CD 203 Zicmes existed in private U.S. collections, but where were they in Colombia! I felt like a detective as I gathered clues and mapped out where various pieces were located. We came to the conclusion that we would have to expand our horizons and search out more distant locations. Using a chart of abandoned railroad lines as our guide, we were off!! After some time on the road we ran across some poles with CD 106's in what looked like a dark green color. My friend climbed the pole and tossed down what turned out to be an incredible, bubbly teal-blue unembossed Zicme with bloody R-E-D streaks all throughout. I nearly died in my tracks! I told myself it couldn't be real. Perhaps after I'm home and clean it up, it will turn out to be amber or something. But after cleaning them up, I was able to confirm the streaks and wisps were RED. Apparently the red cullet cooled at a different temperature than the rest of the teal-blue glass for the red color to remain. Carol McDougald and Marilyn Albers tell me this piece is the ugliest insulator they have ever seen! Now, that's impressive.

We knew we were on the right track now that we had found some CD 106' s (albeit unembossed), so the next week we headed back to the same area only traveling a little further. However, it was nearly dark when we arrived. So when my friend climbed a pole and yelled, "I found a small embossed Zicme!" I was really excited at the prospect and nervously told him to be careful with it. It turned out to be a CD 107 Armstrong. But my friend wasn't discouraged and climbed another pole and this time came back with what he thought were 3 CD 106 Zicmes. He said, ''This time I found them." But what he really found was something even more exciting: 3 light olive green CD 106 VI-BO' s. They have small sharp drip points. Besides the previously discovered CD 154 and an unembossed CD 106, no other VI-BOs have been located. 

A knowledgeable and highly respected collector has seen the CD 106 and CD 154 VI-BOs and has noted a similarity between them and the pieces made by Lynchburg. Perhaps Lynchburg's molds found their way to Colombia! We do know that Lynchburg exported insulators to Colombia, but currently there is no solid proof that their molds were included. It does, however, add to the excitement and mystery of their discovery.

With a new discovery in hand and total darkness, I was ready to go home. But my friend being determined, wanted one last try to find an embossed Zicme. And on this final pole he finally found a CD 106 embossed Zicme in a nice lavender. That night he gave it to me for my birthday! Boy did that make my day! We returned to this area later on and had no further success. So, for now the embossed Zicme CD 106 remains very tough to find, with less than a dozen total recovered in green tint and lavender. 

A three-day weekend was here and I decided to take another journey to search for more embossed CD 106s and see if any CD 203s could be found. Off we went and after nearly two days driving we arrived at our destination. We were exhausted and hot. So we found a hotel with a pool and cooled off before sleeping for the night. Early the next day we headed for a village known for its history. Perhaps there, along some of its railroad lines, we would find the elusive CD 203 Zicme. While driving we ran across a series of iron telephone poles that were completely disconnected. For the first time we were able to recover some light green, clear, lavender, light purple, and aqua tint CD 106 unembossed Zicmes. 

We continued on our journey with a sharp eye looking for the legendary CD 203 Zicme. We finally saw one. STOP the car! I recognized it immediately by its extra-thick glass on the sides of its wire grooves. In a flash my friend climbed and recovered a nice cloudy greyish lavender CD 203 Zicme. And a few minutes later while following the same disconnected line, we recovered a light green, off-clear, and green aqua CD 203 Zicme. We were so happy. But this was just the beginning -- my friend later found a CD 154 Zicme in a Wild Berry color. It is just incredible. And along the same highway, different trip, we recovered a beautiful crude royal violet and a violet purple CD 203 Zicme! It was overwhelming. I consider it an honor to have found the first known purple CD 203! 

CD 203 Zicme in violet purple, CD 154 Zicme in blackglass
 purple; CD 106 Unembossed Zicme in medium purple

And the discoveries continued. On another trip while headed for the same area, we spotted a very dark CD 154 Zicme! We stopped the car and recovered an absolutely incredible piece -- a crude CD 154 Zicme in blackglass purple!! I was overwhelmed as I beheld the piece and it displayed mint! I began to wonder how many years it had been sitting up on that lonely iron pole.

My desire to find more of these dark pieces led me to look in some of the most out of the way places. And it was on one of these adventures where my friends and I located a stretch of abandoned railroad tracks. We thought we had located some elusive purple CD 154 Zicmes. But after climbing the iron poles we discovered what looked like boring, dirty clear ones. However, they were taller in size and had real round drips. After washing them up, I discovered a nice smoky peach color. But since they looked new and were very different than any other Zicme, I thought they may just be an unembossed Hemingray. But after setting the cleaned pieces on a table in the sunlight, something caught my eye. There appeared to be a marking on the dome. Upon closer examination, I could see a small Zicme embossing. And to think I almost disregarded them as just another Hemingray. These dome embossed pieces remain tough to find and dome in colors unknown to skirt embossed pieces: peach/pink, smoky straw and smoky sage. 

One of my new contacts began to surprise me with front door delivery of some incredible pieces. These included some peacock blue, lime and cloudy grey CD 1050 spools and (something I had dreamed about recovering for over a year) a MINT CD 154 royal purple Zicme !!! and some nice porcelains. He reported seeing some exciting new pieces -- a CD 446 No Name in clear, some unique bottle-shaped cobalt spools, and some real dark purple CD 154 Zicmes. They remain a mystery.

On my latest trip I had 4 days off work and decided it was time to hit the road again and explore new areas where I had never been. So my friend and I packed and we were off. I explained the night before to my friend that my main goal was to recover the elusive CD 203 Zicme. We just had not seen or found any more of them since that one trip. And I knew my time was running out to find them. As we traveled we passed up a few beauties as we focused on finding the CD 203. I decided that if we were to find them, we had to begin by looking in the only area where we had found them to date. So when we arrived we had our eyes fixed out both windows as we slowly drove by the poles. In a matter of 15 minutes we spotted one! It turned out to be a nice bubbly green-aqua. After climbing the pole, my friend returned with the CD 203 Zicme and then surprised me by pulling out a beautiful light purple CD 106 embossed Zicme. I was stunned as these were the 2 most difficult style Zicme's to find and they were both waiting on a disconnected pole for us! We drove along the entire route where the CD 203's were previously found and didn't see another one the rest of the day. 

After looking at our map, we discovered a line that headed north from there. We thought we saw some Zicmes, so we stopped the car and discovered that the green tint CD 203's were actually Armstrongs. We then realized we were approaching a dangerous zone, so we opted to turn around and develop an alternate plan. With the help of some traveling Colombian Scouts, we discovered a route that branched off the line we were following in another direction. We decided to follow it. A few hours later we spotted 2 green CD 203 Zicmes. My friend once again climbed and returned with the beauties. Unfortunately, these were damaged like the previous CD 203's. But as rare as they are, I was certainly excited about finding them. 

A purple, green and blue-grey CD 203 Zicmes

As we drove further, I spotted a purple CD 203 Zicme! We definitely stopped the car. But upon closer inspection it was heavily damaged and still connected. What a disappointment! After stopping for some homemade cooking at a roadside restaurant, we were refreshed and ready to continue our journey. We arrived at our first destination. We left our car on the street as we arranged for a hotel room. We returned to the car a few minutes later to find the side window broken and my camera and a friend's bag gone! It was very upsetting especially since there were lots of people on the street. Thankfully, my clothes and our insulator discoveries were safe in the trunk. I wanted to just quit and go home in the morning, but after discussing it with my friend, we decided to make the best of it and press on. I am certainly glad I didn't give up. For what we discovered later on in our journey just blew us away. It all started when we spotted a few purple CD 154 Zicmes. At about this time my friend asked if we could take a small detour off the main highway to stop by his uncle's house. I agreed and was shocked to see a beautiful CD 203 Zicme in medium purple just a block from the house! Too bad it was connected. We really got excited as we realized we were hot on the trail of the CD 203s again. We then saw a few Hemingray "tramps", CD 154 dark Hemingray blues, and some other CD 154 Zicmes. As we drove along we anxiously anticipated finding something. Finally as we drove out into the country we noticed that the poles no longer had wires on them. We were right on target as we spotted some CD 203 Zicmes. We pulled over and discovered they were completely damaged. One of them only had the bottom wire groove left. A little later while following this country road we were able to recover a bubbly light green, green aqua, light blue aqua, and 3 medium purple CD 203 Zicme. All of them had some damage, but were gladly added to my collection! Now I would be able to offer the two duplicates to the list of people who had written me asking to save them one. But not enough to go around.

And if that weren't enough to call it a day, my friend (after asking me to stop the car) returned to the car carrying a cloudy grey CD 203 Zicme and pulled out of his shirt one of the most incredible insulators recovered to date: a brilliant medium cobalt blue CD 154 Zicme!! And to top it off it was in VNM condition. I nearly died of a heart attack when I saw that beauty! I immediately lost all focus on finding CD 203s and instead decided to search for another cobalt. But none were found. 

Upon my return trip to Bogota, I hit another pot hole and demolished the oil pan on my car. I had no choice but to return to local searches in Colombia's capital city. All of you foreign insulator enthusiasts will be happy to know that with the assistance of some workers in the local electric company, I recently recovered some CD 247.5 Russian power insulators in a delicate ice green. They came from Bogotá's trolley line that is no longer in use. There seems to be no end to the insulators waiting to be discovered.

CD 247.5 Russian Power Piece

Just two buildings down from my apartment are located four gorgeous cobalt blue CD 1050 spools. They were recently removed from an old house that was tom down and temporarily installed on the site for a new building project. I pass by them each day as I go to work. Perhaps my patience paid off, because just last week my friend called me up to say he was able to recover some incredible CD 1050 spools in the most spectacular colors: deep violet, red-orange amber, royal magenta (with a cranberry cast), cobalt blue and amber blackglass!! He asked me if I could come over right away to see them. COULD I COME OVER?? I could not believe my eyes when I saw them. All I could think about was these beauties after that. I still have to look at them once a day to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

CD 1050 Spools in a rainbow of colors

I will always remember this time in my life when I was able to contribute to and be a part of such an enjoyable hobby. The incredible insulator discoveries made, information found on insulator manufacturers, trips exploring Colombia, and friendships made with insulator collectors can only be explained as a dream come true in the "Land of Juan Valdez."

Caleb Thimell with two of his favorite Colombia "jewels" -- 
CD 154 Zicme in cobalt blue and CD 203 Zicme in purple