The Marlborough National show was very exciting for porcelain collectors. A lot of interesting porcelain could be found scattered around and a number of rare insulators, too. Naturally it was close to Fred Locke country and several different styles could be found on dealer’s tables such as several brown U-925’s, pin bases, white U-611A, U-926A, and a Victor U-929. Mr. Douglas Fisher, a representative from the Victor (NY) Historical Society, attended the show. He is also the son of J. Sheldon Fisher, owner of the Valentown Museum in Fishers, NY since the 1930’s, local historian, and Fred Locke enthusiast. Mr. Fisher’s father furnished the “recovered Fred Locke letters” and several interesting stories for my book, Fred M. Locke: A Biography. Mr. Fisher is working on a display for the Victor Historical Society to honor Fred Locke, and he was eagerly searching for Fred Locke glass and porcelain insulators to put in the display. He bought more than 40 insulators from several dealers including a fine example of the elusive M-2795 with original sulfur cement. The Victor Historical Society is trying to acquire the Victor Free Library building near downtown Victor, NY which was originally the telegraph office for the Eastern (Electric) Rapid Railway (not where Fred Locke worked as a telegrapher). Mr. Fisher said he would like the exhibit to have the appearance of Fred Locke’s sales office with a display of glass and porcelain insulators, historical photographs, and vintage insulator catalogs (I donated a dozen reprints of the 1900 and 1902 Fred Locke catalogs). I will let you know when the Fred Locke display room is completed.

Probably one of the most obscure items at the Marlborough show was a U-395 with a Pittsburg date control marking on top of one ear. I had spent so much that I could not convince myself to make the modest purchase even though I have never heard of a U-395 with any kind of marking. Luckily though it did end up in the collection of a long-time Pittsburg collector.

Doug MacGillvary (NIA #259) has put together what is probably the most complete collection of threadless porcelain insulators, and he is always looking for styles he does not have. Doug picked up a new unique style at the National which has been assigned U-973. It is a pottery insulator with a fine ash-colored glaze. It was probably made for the Confederacy.

U-973

Jarl and Karen Anderson (NIA #755 & 5350) showed me an unmarked white insulator similar to the under-glaze ink marked U-941A: it was not glazewelded and the white speckled glazed proves it was made at Fred Locke’s Victor, NY factory. All of the white under-glaze ink marked Fred Locke insulators were made for him by the Electric Porcelain & Mfg. Co. in Trenton, NJ (circa 1897-1900). This new style has been assigned U-941C. Fred Locke literally marked every porcelain insulator made at the Victor factory, so the unmarked U-941C must have been made just after he left the company in December 1904. I would guess that it was made circa 1905-1906. U-941C is a fine example of an insulator that was made to duplicate an earlier glazewelded style. Jarl said that he got the insulator from a bottle dealer in Saratoga Springs, NY sometime before 1975.

I finally got to see Joe Maurath, Jr.’s (NIA #813) unusual insulator with the incuse “LI” marking on a raised oval. The photograph shows the marking rather well. This very unusual insulator has been assigned U-740. The insulator is pinkish colored and the very dull surface appears unglazed. Joe said it was given to a small local utility back in the 1960’s along with a similar insulator with a greenish color so they could test them in an area prone to contamination. The utility never did run the test and the greenish insulator has since disappeared. It seems inconceivable that an insulator with a dull, apparently “unglazed” surface could have provided much benefit in a contaminated service. Even minor handling of the insulator produces a dirty appearance. I guess the utility company had its doubts, too. The meaning of the letters ‘LI” is anyone’s guess.

U-740

Bob Lanpher (NIA #487) had a common U-133 with the most unusual glaze I have ever seen on an insulator. The glaze is very dark, slightly reddish brown with light-colored spots fairly uniformly covering the entire insulator - as if it was purposely made that way. The spots are where the glaze is thin. I cannot imagine how this effect could have been made accidentally. We suspect that the U-133 style was made by the Lima Insulator Co. (circa 1904-1908). Perhaps Bob’s insulator was made by a Lima employee as a one-time art work, or could it have been a glaze formula gone bad?

U-133 with strange
spotted glaze.

Richard Wiesman (NIA #3029) showed me an insulator with a groove or notch cut out on both sides of the cable-top groove. It appears that the two notches may have facilitated the use of a clamping device to hold the conductor firmly against the crown. This insulator was reported by Richard Loeffler (Troy, NY) in PIN in the February 1973 issue of CJ. It now has been assigned U-602. Richard’s insulator has a slightly mottled, dark black/brown glaze and looks like it may have been made by Thomas.

U-602 with a groove or notch cut out
on opposite sides of the crown.

Mike McLaughlin brought a very unusual insulator to the show that no one had ever seen before. It is M-3021. This style was not shown in my book, Multipart Porcelain Insulators, but it was cataloged by Locke in their 1913 catalog. Their 1916 and subsequent catalogs do not show this style. Mike’s insulator was marked with the insulator logo and VICTOR R=oo. I hope you can see the large cutout in the ridge above the tie-wire groove in the photograph.

M-3021 VICTOR R=oo
7 - 6 - 3.5 x 5.5

Milo Holland, Sr. (NIA #627) brought me another M-3021 that was unmarked (thanks Milo!). Both insulators have the same speckled rust-orange glaze typical of Locke during the early to mid-1910’s. M-3021 is one of the smallest 3-part insulators.

In June 1990 (CJ, page 15) we described the new, very odd multipart, M-2395. The dimensions of this insulator are: 7.5 - 6 x 11. It was an odd style because the long lily-shell shaped (flared) bottom skirt looked out of proportion to the relatively small diameter top skirt. Another similar style has recently surfaced from an old collection which I have assigned M-2495. You can see in the photograph what I mean by a very odd looking insulator. Some people might think that it is a fake made up of shells from two different styles, but, as with the M-2395, the cement is original and the rust-brown glaze on both skirts is a perfect match. It is obvious from the flat vertical sides of the “square” crown on M-2495 that it was made by Thomas, and, in fact, it has one “blue-jean seam” inside the bottom skirt which confirms it was made by Thomas circa 1905-1912.

M-2495 N-N Thomas
8 - 6 x 10