Three years ago Paul Greaves, Carver Mead and I dug up a mostly whole M-4338 gray victor top with badly smashed lower skirt half way between Rochester and Syracuse N.Y. on the M-3890 line . Last fall I went back and found all but one missing part of the top.

This last weekend, after an additional hour of probing and digging around the pole site, I found the missing part ! This top came from an insulator with the early speckled blue marked lower skirts . Two years ago I found a complete set of the three speckled lower skirts for this insulator with both lower skirts marked "VICTOR" in the Lockport, N.Y. substation dump, The lower skirts were mint and the upper bell was cracked but whole . Now I have the correct top for my skirt set and I am one happy camper! The tops used on the early M-4338 skirts were slightly different then the later ones so finding the correct early gray top was a big deal especially since this is a very rare insulator with only about six known .. Needless to say... this one will be my collection keeper! here is what a complete gray victor M-4338 looks like [id=252760474]

Hay Guys it really pays to be persistent and recheck places several times before giving up.!! and speaking of more finds here are a few more from this last trip.... [id=305298869]