The letter from Bill Kemp and editorial note (INSULATORS, May 1974, p. 21) has pushed me into writing this article. There are some loose ends on the Castle in Hawaii that I hope to gather, but it seems best to publish now what there is to say. The figure of 800 Castles is not just a rumor.

About three years ago, in working an old line that had gone to cable long ago, I began to pick up a few CD 206 insulators left behind in repair work. At each of three poles where a crossarm had been changed I picked up 4 to 10, and the others were scattered. In all, I got about 25 in this way. It took a lot of scratching around in the brush to find these gems. Then there was another site where the lead was still in open wire, and one stretch was pretty well decked out in Castles. Originally, apparently, the top crossarm (12 pins each) was equipped only with Castles. Over the years some changes were made, and I figured, in 1972, on the 100 or so poles in the lead, there was still a total of 800 to 900 Castles.

I went the route of working through the phone company, and did get 15 specimens that came down in routine repair operations. The lead was going out of service, and I expected to get more, if lucky, when the time came. However, approximately in February 1973, the glass began to disappear. The pilferage continued in at least three increments from then until November, and the lead was stripped. Because I have rather strict reservations about illegally acquiring the property of others, I did not join in. (Obviously, I was never intended to be the "Castle King of the World".) I was able to ride the wave and did trade off the good ones I had to a number of satisfied customers. The only thing I could tell them was that the Castles I had were hard to get, and I didn't know for sure if I would ever get more. My glass collection (over 1,000 pieces now) is built on trade only, so this was quite a windfall. I traded liberally at $40 to $190 per Castle, and gave six away to special persons. About half the set was mint or near mint.

That's the story. I don't know exactly where the Castles went, but quite a few mainland collectors were out after them once the news got around. Three dealers phoned me direct from California; several wrote me from around the country; and two other persons called me here, all trying to get a line on the haul. One prominent midwest dealer put out what appeared to be a saturation campaign - - sketches of the Castle and offers of cash (any quantity, any color). It seems that the loot has probably left Hawaii by now. With prices currently advertised at $150 down to $125, it appears there must be some competition in cash sales, and possibly this will continue.

Concerning the Castle itself, the Hawaiian specimens are about half and half light blue and straw. The blue is generally considered to be a McLaughlin because of the color and typical flat round drip points. Every blue one I have examined has 30 R.D.P. The straw looks the same, but has tiny sharp drips, like the Maydwell products. Of those examined, some have 26 S.D.P. and some 32 S.D.P. One other note on the straw is that some have dents in the rim, as if they came out of the press still soft and landed on a grid or screen of some kind. The connection here is that a straw CD 106 Maydwell-9//U.S.A. (made, by the way, in a reworked McLaughlin mold) has the same strange dents in the rim. That seems to clinch the likelihood of the straw Castle being a Maydwell product (Maydwell succeeded McLaughlin.).

There is one other thing. One light green Castle was found in Hawaii on a remote rubbish pile, in a situation that suggested the insulator may have been used on a water system telephone line. This needs to be explored.

I am interested in cataloging the Castles. As you can see, I am a drip point counter. The light green Hawaii specimen belongs to a collector on Maui, and its drips have not been counted. A light green in my collection (from California) has 39 R.D.P., similar in shape to those on the blue, but smaller. Is there really an aqua, and what other variations have turned up? Whereas I have no Castles to trade, I would be interested in exchanging information any collector may have from his own specimens and experiences. I suppose that any dealer who has a pocket full of Castles would just as soon not talk about it, and this may account for the "rumor" that the figure is more like 80 than 800 Castles now in circulation.