The C.D. 178 "SANTA ANA" and the C.D. 260 were CALIFORNIA's two styles of high voltage power glass. I have yet to see any mold variations within the C.D. 178 style other than short pours, which cause the insulators to rest either on the skirt or the inner skirt. This is not, in fact, a mold variation, but a defect. More accurately stated, it is the product of inconsistency in molding, where the amount of molten glass put into the mold varied, so the length of the inner skirt was shorter or longer depending on how much glass was used. When dealing with these by mail, I describe them as "inner skirt rest" or "skirt rest" to give the prospective buyer a better idea of what I have.

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CALIFORNIA SANTA ANAS come with a unique embossing style that no other CALIFORNIAs share. CALIFORNIA is spelled out on one side using all capital letters. A-L-I-F-0-R-N-I are all 3/8 inch lettering, while the C and the A at the ends are 3/4 inch. On the other side SANTA ANA is done with the first letter of each word in 3/4 inch type, while the rest goes with 3/8 inch. SANTA ANAs are one of few CALIFORNIAs to come with numbers embossed on them. Centered directly over SANTA ANA is the number "303". SANTA ANAs can be found embossed with only "303/SANTA ANA" on one side. Every one of these that I have seen was in a "CALIFORNIA color", and I believe they were made by CALIFORNIA. Why they were not embossed "CALIFORNIA" I do not know. I will get back to these later.

Judging from what I have seen, colors amongst the SANTA ANAs are pretty limited. GREEN and PURPLE are it. You can find various GREENS ranging from plain green to a smoky sage green, and PURPLES from medium smoke-purple all the way to deep burgundy. These cover a lot of shades, and you can collect a fair amount of them, too. Eight or ten of them might not even cover all the different shades. GREEN SANTA ANAs generally price in the 12-20 dollar range. I have seen them up to 40 dollars. I figure I'll just wait till a better deal comes along when I see $40 price tags on them.

PURPLEs have really gone up in price. Where they were 25 dollars for a long time, you will now have to pay 30-45 dollars for one. For a really good deep purple one you might even have to go higher. Although C.D. 178's can be found in blues, aquas, and deep greens, CALIFORNIAs are found only in the two basic colors mentioned above. Various other companies made C.D. 178's in dark colors like blues, aquas, and deep greens, and I believe the ones found in these colors are not of CALIFORNIA origin.

There are two varieties of the CALIFORNIA C.D. 260 "helmet": the narrow groove" and the "standard". "Narrow grooves" are also called "pinch-ear" helmets by many collectors. Both the "narrow groove" and the "standard" are C.D. 260's. Mr. N. R. Woodward informed me that the difference between a C.D. 259 helmet and a C.D. 260 helmet is not in the ears, but with the inner skirt. 260's have 'em, 259's don't. I know a lot of people who call the "narrow groove" helmet a C.D. 259, as I did myself until I was enlightened. Sorry folks, it is indeed a 260. 

The "narrow groove" has been found in only one color -- aqua. There is a little variation here, some are darker than others, but all are aqua. I have one with a large streak of "goo" in the ears and dome. This "goo" is opaque green in color and winds randomly all over the dome and in the ears. This one is also double embossed "CALIFORNIA". Directly above the "real" embossing is a perfect ghost embossing. It is perfect in every aspect. Where most ghost embossings fade or are incomplete, this one is bold and is leveled and centered directly above the "real" embossing. This is the only one I have seen like this. However, ghost embossing is nothing rare and probably adds little value to the insulator. 

I heard a rumor once of a "green" "narrow groove". I don't know anything about it though. As the story goes, all of the CALIFORNIA "narrow groove" helmets were found in use inside the SHELL OIL CO.'s refining facility in Richmond, California. I didn't find them myself, so I can't speak from actual experience, but that is the story behind these. 

"Narrow groove" helmets value in the 90 to 110 dollar range when mint or very near mint. I have given as little as 60 dollars for a mint one in a quantity deal. These "pinch ears" seem to be hard to get for some collectors. When talking to CAL specialists, some have said that they have had great difficulty in finding one, and some still have not been lucky enough to. I have seen quite a few. Perhaps they are scarcer than I believe. They are a definite "goodie".

"Standard" helmets are the more common style of the two. There are some "standard" helmets, though, that are much rarer than the "narrow groove". The yellow and purple ones are good examples of these. Sage green is the most common of all CALIFORNIA helmets. These usually price at 35 dollars. There seems to be a "set" price for all CAL helmets. 35 dollars is where the sages sit. I have seen a lot of sage helmets down in and around the 15 to 25 dollar range for a "thirty-five dollar insulator". I don't think these are worth any more than 35 dollars and would say 35 dollars is a premium price. 

There is little (if any) shade variation with the greens. There is a rich plain green variation that I've seen, but outside of those, they are all the same. The plain green one should be worth a little more than the sage, because it is scarcer, but it isn't anything too special, so I would say maybe 35-45? I'm chancing a guess here, because most people would not notice the difference at all and would sell one just as a "green" CAL helmet. 

YELLOW is a good color. These are tough to get, regardless of whether you have the money or not. 150 dollars seems to be the "set price" for these. I've seen them for more, and I've seen them for less; but I know that I would have no trouble finding a buyer for mine at $150. Mine is very near mint. These are really a beautiful insulator. The super neat shape combined with the golden yellow color make for an outstanding looking piece. 

SMOKE comes next. I don't have a plain "SMOKE" one, but I have seen plenty of them. These smokies are much greyer and darker than what I normally call "PLAIN SMOKE". They have a black appearance due to all the grey. Some are a mixture of green and purple glass, resulting in a goopy dark color. I have never seen one where the colors separated much, just streaks here and there. These come and go for around 25 dollars. There were quite a few of these around a few years back. That was before I was interested in them, of course. I haven't seen any for a while on sales tables or lists. I would say 25 to 45 dollars would be a good price range for these. They are not very good looking on account of their color, and I would say this has a major influence on their value. 

SMOKE-PURPLE and PURPLE are considered to be the same by most collectors when it comes to helmets. They call them all "purple helmets". Most "purple helmets" are of the SMOKE-PURPLE variety. Very few are a good solid purple with little or no smoke in it. CALIFORNIA helmets come in purples all the way from SMOKE to a fairly deep PURPLE. 150 dollars is the "set price" for these, too. They are easier to come by than a YELLOW one, but I would not advise holding your breath till you find one. You may be in for a wait. The stronger the purple is with these, the better. Although all of them are hot sales items, the richer purples are much more desirable. I think that $150 is a premium price for these. They are not as rare as one might think. It is just that they are so popular with EVERYONE. There is one place they do seem to be quite scarce, though -- on sales tables.

The "standard" helmet is one of the very few CALIFORNIAs to be found in PEACH. What a beautiful insulator! I have seen a few in a gorgeous orange color, and one that was a muddy purple-orange. I would put these in the same class as the YELLOW, a scarce, difficult to find insulator, worth about 150 dollars.

There are a few characteristic points worthy of note concerning CALIFORNIA helmets. All of these involve embossing. On the "narrow grooves" the embossing is always fairly bold. Ghost embossing is not uncommon, but one rarely finds a complete "CALIFORNIA" spelled out. Usually it is only a few letters on one end or the other that drift away. Most "standards" come with weak embossing. Not so weak as to make it hard to read, but often the tops of the letters are not there. 

There is a natural law which states that "if there is a rule, there shall be an exception to the rule". Sage green helmets are the exception to the rule. Most "standards" have weak embossing. Sages are consistently embossed in a very bold fashion. I have yet to find an exception to "the exception". Some of these may be bolder than others, but all that I have seen have a nice sharp bold embossing. This might indicate that these were the first insulators to be pushed out of a new set of molds. This could be taken one step further to suggest that these are the earlier "standards" made by CALIFORNIA. 

If one has worked with molds, they would know that the most critical wear points are where there are small projections, indentions, or sharp edges. Embossings were the first thing to go, particularly so if the embossing was cut into the mold cup where the dome section was formed. Older BROOKFIELDS offer a fine example of this. The idea of the sage green (boldly embossed) helmets being earlier is only a theory, but it does have some grounds to stand on.