One of a Kind Hemingray Exchange CD 115.2

By Michael Gibbons; posted May 8, 2012

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I discovered this new Hemingray exchange insulator in a Denver antique furniture store in November of 2011. The moment I saw it I could tell it was a unique piece, and this was validated by the majority of experienced collectors that were consulted. A story about my discovery was published in both Drip Points (Vol 39-No3-Spring 2012-pp 27-28) and the Crown Jewels (April 2012-pp 32-33), but no one contacted me following the articles, thus suggesting my exchange is the only one currently known in the collecting world. However, I was very surprised to learn this exchange insulator with a different height, different dome, different wire grooves, different skirt, and different drip points does not merit a new CD#.....go figure that...

UPDATE 1 (4/20/2012) --Thanks for all the positive ICON feedback regarding my new exchange insulator. I have received 800+ hits from my ICON post, but so far no one has stepped forward claiming they have an exchange insulator like the one in question. Whatever it is, I believe it to be very rare

UPDATE 2 (5/8/2012) -- Woody assigned this exchange insulator CD 115.2 ... with the comment "I doubt if it ever was produced in quantity"

UPDATE 3 (5/31/2015) -- In the new 2015 North American Glass Insulator Price Guide book they reversed the decision to give this insulator a 115.2 designation and instead listed it as simply a variance (115[045]) and way undervalued it for a one of a kind. I think all the different physical characteristics of this insulator warrants its own number, and as of May 2015 nobody has contacted me through this page saying another one has been discovered suggesting this is truly a "one of a kind".

I am calling shenanigans on all of this CD BS....Nothing but shenanigans.....SHENANIGANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WARNING to newbie collectors. You will not get a fair shake in this hobby !....Trust me, I know !

I think the proposed CD 115.2 is the product of a re-tooled/re-machined 115 mold creating a new insulator. I also believe this to be the case with what I am calling, for arguments sake a CD 115.3, which had the middle wire groove thickened and squared off. I also suspect the 115.2 and 115.3 is evidence of experimental redesigning of the older 115's, which possibly resulted in the 129......Regarding my speculation as to why, I think the thin wire grooves of the 115 made it susceptible to cracking/braking off so an effort was made by Hemingray to re-design it using existing molds, which would also allow for bigger/heavier wire and other uses.

Link to the 115.3 Reference Page:

[id=438994642]

Thanks for your interest

Happy Trails

Michael Gibbons

Photograph by Dan Gauron

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