Letters to the Editor

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", June 1986, page 6

Dear Carol,

It was interesting to see the pictures of the threadless porcelain insulator in the January, 1986 issue of "Crown Jewels" (page 31) which belonged to Larrin Wanechek of Cle Elum, Washington.

I have been in touch with Larrin because I have two insulators similar in size, shape, general color and size of pin hole.

Henderson Insulator #1 showing exterior and pin hole.

The first find of the above two was reported in the November, 1975 "Crown Jewels" on page 33 in Jack Tod's Porcelain News. Jack also mentioned it in the April (page 16) and December (page 29) issues of 1976. Another report appeared in Jack's column in the May, 1982 issue.

The interesting thing about the "Wanachek" insulator is that it appears to be the insulator that we lost track of in 1976. This insulator came to light before the "Henderson" insulator was found and reported. It was dug at Cumberland, Ontario, and subsequently sold to Ren Settle in Ottawa. It was shown and discussed on a TV program, "The Joy of Collecting," in January, 1976. Jack Hayes also mentioned the insulator in "Crown Jewels" (page 14) in an article entitled "Baby Canadian Threadless." Shortly after that it was sold to a man from the West.

Henderson Insulator #2 showing exterior and pin hole.

Larrin tells me that Don Logan, Langley, British Columbia, bought this insulator in the East in 1976, and that he bought Logan's collection shortly after that. So it appears that we now have three insulators that came from, and were used in, the same general area (within 60 miles of each other) between Ottawa and Montreal. They are of apparent Canadian origin.

They are now listed in "Worldwide Porcelain Insulators" by Marilyn Albers and Jack Tod. It is listed as a U-1960.

Doug Henderson,
Hawkesbury, Ontario