4 new insulators

deenodean · Jul 16, 2013

These 4 insulators were included in a bottle collection I just bought. 3 porcelain and a glass. Porcelains embossed Patd M Locke Victor N.Y. , M.Locke TOR. N.Y. , Red M. Locke N.Y. The green glass one has a small gable end triangle on the front.
Any info and value appreciated.
Thanks for looking.

sparrow75 · Jul 16, 2013

Nice group. I'll supply you with some general info until "those that know a lot" come by to fill in the gaps. All of those insulators are refereed to as ponies. I don't know the U numbers for the porcelain ones, but the glass is CD 102. I'll assume the embossing on the glass insulators is supposed to be a <> Diamond....which I think was manufactured by a Canadian company and they come in a wide range of colors.

BillinMo · Jul 16, 2013

Nice - you're searching in the right places.

The three porcelain ponies are all early Fred Locke pieces from the 1900-1904 period, made at his factory in Victor, New York. Locke didn't invent porcelain insulators, but he certainly had a deep and lasting impact on the porcelain insulator industry in the US, pioneering all sorts of new designs and manufacturing concepts. He was quite a character, too. If you're interested, you can read tons of information about him here: Fred M Locke info

All of your Locke ponies actually have the same marking, but as you can probably guess, the guy at the factory wasn't too careful about centering the incuse stamp and making sure every letter was visible. A complete marking would read FRED M. LOCKE / VICTOR, N.Y.

Any old Fred Locke pieces create collector interest, although these are probably the most common of those early styles. I've gotten some as cheaply as 5 dollars and I've paid up to 15 or so for ones I really like. The round top ones are U-3 and the other is a U-39.

Chris (Sparrow75) is right on - the other one's a CD 102 Diamond, made by Diamond Glass. Usually the marking is a complete diamond; I think this one might be a mold repair or something. Maybe Kyle or Barrett might have some insight there.

That's a really pretty dark olive. Diamond produced a lot of these ponies in that color so it's not one of the rare colors with lots of "wow" factor, but I think they sure look great in a window.

BillinMo · Jul 16, 2013

Just looked up the Diamond pony in the PG. It's actually a bit higher than I thought - 5-10.

deenodean · Jul 16, 2013

Many thanks for the info guys! I like the size of those pony insulators. The back of the Diamond pony looks like it was fried with some good current , there is a smokey film that can be scraped of. If I have time tomorrow I'll post a picture. There is a small bb ding on the top which will lower the value. I probably will sell them.

BillinMo · Jul 17, 2013

Yeah, the locomotive soot tends to accumulate on glass and creates that dark film. Removing it will require soaking in (safest) oxalic acid, or lye (what I use), or a stronger acid like muriatic (big pain and lots of precautions to think about). If you want to sell without the hassle of cleaning, you can just knock a few bucks off the price and sell it dirty.

Here's a link to cleaning info: Cleaning Your Insulators They don't mention that you can get oxalic acid in household cleaning powders like Zud or Bar Keeper's Friend if you're not able to find the pure crystals. I'm not sure if there may be other trade names for the cleansers in the Canadian market.

4 new insulators

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