The New Foreign Glass Chart

Two and a half years ago, when this column first appeared, we were just beginning to get our feet wet doing research on foreign insulators. And now I'm so happy to be able to tell you that, as of this writing, there is a brand new design chart available to you, complete with drawings and embossings of every foreign glass insulator we know to exist at this time!

This chart was submitted to the NIA Catalog and Authentication Committee in late August and has subsequently been approved by this committee. It is called Glass Insulators from Outside North America. The front page carries the official NIA insignia to denote NIA sanction. To my knowledge, this is the first time there has been a publication covering only foreign insulators. It is a simple booklet and a bare beginning, but we had to start somewhere. As we find more and more foreign glass insulators, we will update with supplements and/or new editions as needed. A lot of room was left for new finds, and I suppose the chart will grow by leaps and bounds! There are hundreds of foreign insulators out there somewhere that we have yet to see.

While the chart represents many long hours of work, it has also been a most rewarding and exciting experience. However, without Jack Tod's beautiful drawings there would not have been a design chart at all, so I am most indebted to him for his help. He has also agreed to make the drawings for a similar book on foreign porcelains, which is already under way. 

Let me tell you why all this has been done. For a long time a lot of people in the hobby have felt that foreign items should not be mixed in with North American styles of insulators in any listings generally used and relied upon by the serious collector, and that they should have their own group of numbers in the C.D. numbering system. So essentially what we have done is this: We went through Milholland's book Most About Glass Insulators, 4th Revision, and listed every foreign insulator found there, with the exception of Canadians and Mexicans, because these are not generally considered "foreign", but North American. (The new book on foreign porcelains will include Canada, and Mexico too, if any were made there.) The various designs which are obviously foreign have been given new reference numbers apart from any C.D. numbers already in use, utilizing the group 400-600 previously left blank in the C.D. numbering system. 

Any foreign insulators that are essentially identical to North American designs have been left where they are, their C.D. numbers undisturbed, Example: C.D. 154 E.S.A. (Spain) will always be C.D. 154, and C.D. 106 ZICME (El Salvador) will always be C.D. 106, because they are identical to U.S. insulators with the same C.D. number, even to the size of the threads and the pinhole. The reason is that it makes for good order and also good sense. But for your convenience we have included these undisturbed C.D. numbers along with the new numbers on our chart, so you would have all foreign insulators listed together in one place.

This first edition makes no attempt to include color variations or give suggested prices. This will come later, probably in an updated complete price guide on glass insulators. What we do have, however, is a total of 135 accurate drawings reduced to 1/4 size of the actual dimensions of the insulators drawn. Jack worked strictly from shadow outlines and measurements, or, in a few cases, from factory catalog drawings that I sent him from Houston. 

Following the chart of drawings is a table of markings and countries of origin for each C.D. number. In some cases a second country will be listed, to indicate that the insulator was actually found in that country and made for use there. If we were not sure of a country, we left it blank. Also shown in the table is a cross reference of numbers for photos or drawings of comparable styles shown in the 4th Revision of Milholland's Most About Glass Insulators. Both numbers are given, the old and the new. No insulator was assigned a new number without having the actual example in hand, or at least a factory drawing from a foreign catalog, because we felt that an accurate drawing could not be made from a picture alone, and the drawings were essential to our chart. However, of the 86 C.D. numbers listed as foreign in Milholland's book, we have found all but eleven, and will keep calling for these until we find them, eventually including them all. In addition, we have found 58 new designs never before included in any listing. This gives us a grand total so far of 133 C.D. numbers which are assigned to foreign glass insulators.

On the page opposite (above), by way of illustration, are drawings of Australian insulators and their corresponding section of the table, giving embossings, new and old C.D. numbers and country of origin.

I am putting out a call once again for the following C.D. numbers. These are missing from our chart, and we still need the examples, or your shadow outlines, to make drawings from.

I would also like to point out that for the time being and until we discover otherwise, C.D.'s 810 and 822 have been eliminated, because we feel that 810 is the same insulator as 828, and 822 is the same as 832. We do have drawings of, and new numbers for, both 828 and 832. 

I can't say it enough. Thank you so much, all you collectors who have loaned me your valued insulators so that I could take measurements and make shadow outlines. If it were not for your trust, the chart would be a whole lot smaller. Jack Tod never actually saw your insulators, but he still made beautifully accurate drawings from these sketches. It should make you proud!

If you discover you have one of the insulators we've called for, or perhaps one we've never seen before, and would not mind loaning it to me, I will pay all postage both ways and see that you get it back safely. If you are afraid to risk breakage and would prefer to make the shadow drawings yourself, you will find the instructions for doing so in the July '81 issue of Crown Jewels under "Foreign Insulators". If you can't find that, then send me a S.A.S.E., and I will mail you a copy of the instructions.