CD 112 New Eng. Tel. & Tel. Co. Duo

By Tracey Beckham; posted August 23, 2004

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Here are a couple more NET&T Co. "kegs" from Joe Maurath's collection. He recalls never having seen one during his earliest years of collecting and his first encounter with one was during about October 1968. Joe and his collecting cousin collecting buddy had discovered a really old iron-wire fire alarm telegraph line that ran through the woods of a park near Boston. This "site" was readily accessible by bicycle in those days by the dynamic duo (Joe and his cousin!). Along this line were some very ancient threaded insulators and it was apparent it was built eons ago from whatever "they" could find. The line ran parallel to a sort of busy street that traversed anywhere from 20 to 100 feet from where the pole line ran. The "signal" line actually was on active poles. The electric utility had "stuff" on top...about 15 feet or more overhead. Anyway, Joe spotted a CD 112 on a really old crossarm along that few-miles-long pole line. He never found one of those before, so he parked his bike right near the base of the stepped pole and up he went. Please keep in mind that this line ran through a public park and that a horse or jogging trail paralleled the pole line. Joe was up there on the pole swapping out that awesome old CD 112 when he heard some shuffling below. He thought it was a couple girls just passing through as he had seen being on a pole before. But such was NOT the case here! It was a police mounty in full uniform (on a horse) who stopped wondering why there was an abandoned (new) 10-speed pike near the base of the pole that Joe was on! Joe froze from above as he watched the mounty look around for anything askew! Slowly the police officer on his horse proceeded; he continued to look around for the bike's owner. There was a bend in the trail about 100 feet ahead and as soon as the mountie was the least bit out of line's sight, Joe got down from the pole and booked it out of there in record time! There was a downwards hill and Joe recalls tears from his eyes from the wind in his face as his bike made record speed! His find was a CD 112 NET&T keg in aqua, in perfect condition (he still has it; not shown here). He shared knowledge of his find (but not the gory details as I just mentioned!) with N.R. Woodward and the late Frances Terrill (monthly Old Bottle Magazine OBX Insulator Editor). Since then Joe has been afflicted to NET&T kegs! (BTW, his was the first reported known of these). Since then, he has picked up (without the drama!) several variations. On the left is one in light green with large lettering, made in a three-piece mold. On the right is another example. This one is earlier, having been produced in a two-piece mold. It is very light aqua and is filled with an infinite number of microscopic bubbles. Joe asserts that both the MLOD and 3-piece mold CD 112 NET insulators were made by Brookfield. If you have any questions please contact Joe at jmaurath@mindspring.com. Thank you.

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