June 14 - 18/2005
I Visited Tim Grantz and Ron Barth in West Leechburg PA. We made some trades and I picked up about 400-500 CD 145's that they had been gathering for me for a few months in preparation of this trip. On the way down to their place I stopped in Gardiner Maine and visited Chris Cotnoir. We made a few trades and Chris showed me his collection. On the way back I stopped into John Rajpolt's place and picked up some purchases and made some trades. John and I chatted and he showed me his great collection of rare insulators. At this point we headed home via Route 1 in Maine, did some shopping and with all the antique shops I just couldn't resist checking. Well most of the first ones I stopped at either had no insulators or the 145's they did have were way over priced. I checked about 20 places and was getting the idea that I was not going to have much luck. We decided to skip a bunch and make up some time on the route. After about 1 hour I decided to pull into an antique shop (can't even remember the town because there were so many shops and we were jumping from one to another). I had decided with my trades and purchases I was very pleased with the trip as it was. I went into this last Antique shop that we would be stopping at as it was about 4:50 and the rest would be closing soon. I walked the whole 3 floors not seeing a single insulator. I was in the back corner of the building and spotted a purple 143 in the window. Thinking how the others were priced back a few hours ago, and being only commons I was thinking here we go, what will they want for this one. I knew from experience that CanPac purples generally go for 75-100 so when I saw 3-- on this one I had to take it up front and ask. I asked the clerk if this was $3.00 and she said yes. Well I played my poker face and said i'll take it. As she was packing it she said I haven't seen many purple insulators before. I had to make her feel good so I said, "ya I think they are pretty rare". I took the package and paid her the 3.15, yes I paid tax but I didn't care, I finally got a purple, well Royal Purple 143 for my shelves. I didn't bring my price guide along for the trip fearing customs would see it and then start to question the value of the ones which I had purchased. I had claimed the actual amount I did pay believe it or not. At this point it was about 7 hours from home so I couldn't wait to price it in the book.  I was shocked when i saw the CD 143 no embossing 060 was worth $500-$600. I was so happy for 2 reasons, 1 obviously the deal I got, and 2 I finally got an insulator that i could tell this story about. I have read so many others that have come across super finds like this and now I am in the "Club" (if there is such a thing, he he). After much help from the following people  Joe Maurath, Jr,  Tracey Beckham, David Hawkins, Kyle Waters, Bill March, Rod Bushfield, Chris Minicola, and a few others from Insulatorscanada.com that only have user names listed.

Well after all that here is the beauty

It was a great trip and I want to thank Tim, Ron, Chris and John for their hospitality and welcoming me into their homes.
If any of you are ever in my area you are more then welcome to stop in for a visit as are any insulator collector out there, it is very fun to chat about insulators.

I know how much fun I had just at 3 stops this trip, so I can't wait to attend a national. I will be in my glory.

Trips - Hunts - Finds

NOV 11/04
Well today I set out with a friend from work, Jim, in the hopes of finding some CREBS and maybe even a yellow green.
We left at around 9 am and headed for the area that I had checked last Nov 2 to start from where I left off. When we started I told Jim there was no need to get any Dominion - 42 CD 155 as I already have over 300 of them, but when we got started that is about all we found. We continued down the line and found some poles off to the side and started to find some CD 147 Patented-Other, some Brookfield CD 152's and some CD 154 Hemingray's. I was pleased at this, as we found something different than the common Dominion 42's.
We decided to split up. I went ahead on the 4 wheeler, about 20 poles, then started back to meet Jim in the middle. I found a cross arm and when I bent down to look at what was on the pins I started to get CREB fever because I saw this buried in the leaves.

This is how much was uncovered by leaves. When I shook the cross arm and lifted it out, well heart break........
Click here to view

So I continued toward Jim and asked him if he found anything worthwhile. He had found a Brookfield yellow green. I told him about my find in the leaves, the heartbreaker.

Here is the one he found.
Notice the nice blob in the top.
Below is a better angle to show it.

So at this point, we decided that there were some CREBS around and tried to find some more. We continued doing the leapfrog search and about 20 minutes later I found a cross arm that was partially buried on the end, so I flipped it up and I was shocked to see what was on the last pin...

Yep, another CREB!!

It has 18 as the mold # and the 8 looks ghosted and upside down. When I turned it off and inspected it, I was pretty excited to see it in perfect condition, no bullet chips or base breaks. I couldn't wait to show Jim that I had found a CREB and not all broke, but my celebration was spoiled by his new find. Well actually 2.....
The first

The Elusive YELLOW GREEN or perhaps YELLOW OLIVE GREEN
As you can see it needs a good cleaning. I took this picture as soon as we got home and compared it to my other Yellow Green and it is exactly the same color. This was identified from my posting in the CREB section as Yellow Olive Green by some of the CREB experts.
What is funny about this one and my find is the mold 18 looks like twins, both ghosted and both upside down 8's. Who knew these 2 brothers would be within 4 poles of each other all this time, but now are reunited together again.
Now the second one he handed me may not be that spectacular but it is the first one I have ever seen in our area, period. We have never seen any on poles, any broke or any at all.

CD 143 CAN PAC (070) notice the backwards C in PACIFIC
There are no 143's in use on the rail lines that we have checked in our area that is why this was such a great find, even though it is a common color it was exciting to actually find an embossing error insulator by ourselves. Before now I had to purchase from Norm Robar in Sydney Nova Scotia, Carl Durand in Manitoba and Ken Gardner in Ontario to get any of these for my collection. Funny thing was Jim found it in the little stream just on the edge in the water.
We also found another CREB

I know they all need a good cleaning and when I have them ready I'll post them.

Here is a summary of the GOOD finds from today:
the one on the far left (the 20 mold Yellow Green or Yellow Olive Green) is one I already had and is the same one posted in the CREB section of ICON

and I almost forgot, here is the rest of the load, all 201 of them

Which are from left to right:

5 Kerr CD 155
5 Armstrong CD 155
18 Hemingray CD 154 / 7 SDP, 11 RDP
18 CD 147 Patent other
11 CD 145 "B"
32 CD 152 Brookfield
10 CD 155 Whitall Tatum
7 CD 155 Hemingray
14 CD 152 Hemingray all SDP
and of course 81 More Dominion CD 155's
We brought these home just in case there are any embossing errors or any junk in the glass we may discover when cleaned, but I am not crossing my fingers as Dominion (from the over 500 I have) are usually perfectly manufactured.

It was well worth the trip today and was very enjoying to have a day off.

Here are some pictures from the Trenton area in Ontario from a little walk I took

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Recent Hunt Nov 2/03

On a 3 hour walk up the tracks here is my find

From Left to right

4 - CD 152 Brookfield
2 - CD 155 Kerr
3 - CD 155 Armstrong KPP in circle
3 - CD 147 Patent other
1 - CD 155 Whitall Tatum
2 - CD 154 Hemingray 1 SDP, 1 RDP
2 - CD 152 Hemingray SDP
1 CD 155 Hemingray - 45 CB
the half sized one is a CD 155 Whitall Tatum that is broke clear off at the bottom wire groove.
7 - CD 1049 Clear no name spools
5 - Plastic 4-CTC, 1 REN
18 - CD 155 Dominion - 42

Back in Nov of 2003 I was in Cuba.
I didn't take these pictures for insulator pictures that is why they are not zoomed in, but it shows some of the equipment they use
Notice the concrete telephone poles !!!

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