It seems like the past two days, Ricky and I have both been able to turn up a piece we had previously never found in the wild before. For me, I don't know if it's one that really anyone has found many of in the wild, if any. This one is very much new to me, and I'd appreciate any input. But, first, a bit of a background story.

I've recently acquired a new apartment in London, Ontario, situated just a couple kilometres from the University of Western Ontario campus. I live in this 3 bedroom hilton with 3 high school friends of mine whom also go to school in London, and with whom I get along very well. When we first toured the apartment back in March or so, I almost immediately took notice of the apartment complex's close proximity to the Railroad tracks, specifically, the former Great Western railway, built through London in 1853. I didn't think too much of it, as the area is quite urbanized, but filed it away as an interesting point to follow up on at a later date.

Fast forward a number of months until yesterday, September the 3rd, 2008, and the day before my first day of school. Ben, my former room mate from residence at university, and my current flatmate in the apartment I call home, decided to head to Subway for a spot of lunch, and then explore the area a bit on our way back. We had only lived in the apartment for just under 2 weeks, and had been busy setting up, figuring out of chore sharing, and just mingling in the way that new room mates and old friends like to mingle. We followed a gravel trail that snaked along the back of the lush, wooded, garden area surrounding the apartment building, and I was pleased to see that it ran relatively close to the railroad tracks. What really appealed to me was the fact that the path appeared to have been freshly placed, and much of the dirt in close proximity to it had been freshly exposed via backhoe. Naturally, while Ben & I walked along, I was discretely keeping an eye out in the dirt for insulator shards, or complete examples. And lo and behold, what would appear almost immediately after the path began to run parallel to the tracks, but a rather odd looking white porcelain 'hive.

Now, I don't know how much you all have hunted the Great Western railway between London and Chatham, but if you have, you may have noticed that very, very little in the way of porcelain ever turns up along this line. This was one of the first thoughts I pondered when I first spotted the insulator. It appeared to be in the same shape as a Gisbourne Pattern, but those have only ever been found, by myself anyways, along the Canadian Pacific lines in the area. I happened to have my camera on me, so I snapped a photo, and then removed the insulator. What followed next was about 5 minutes of me turning the piece over, and examining it in every light, and from every angle possible, just to try and figure out what it was I was looking at. All I could tell was that it was absolutely pure white porcelain, smoothly glazed and of high quality manufacture, and appeared to look exactly like a grooved base variant Dwight Pattern CD 143 in every respect, except for it being unmarked, and made of white porcelain. It's shape is identical to a GB Dwight, and it even has the grooved base to match. Even the curvature on the inside edge of the skirt is the same! I was at a loss, but with Ben's company, returned back to the apartment to clean it up. Attached is a photo of the mystery insulator next to a GB Dwight to show the similarities. I've also uploaded a [id=225190176;base view of the insulators].

My question to you all is - has anyone ever seen one of these before? I know I sure haven't. I don't have my copy on me, but is it listed in Mark Lauckner's book? I don't recall having ever seen it in there, either.

Any thoughts?

Anyways, regardless of what the thing is, or how common it may be, it sure is nice to have found something so close to home... even if home is very new in itself. I'll always cherish this one, and it will make a great addition to my 143 collection. Even if it is actually only a "faux-143".

All the best!