Original Photo of Fred Locke M-2795 Insulators - I

By Elton Gish; posted August 23, 2011

View Original (1904 x 1286) 1224KB

 


I recently purchased this original photo and one other from a guy in Oakland. It was not taken at the Fred Locke factory in Victor, NY as originally thought. We feel fairly certain that it was made at Oakland, CA. The Brookfield glass bases were packed separately in wooden barrels as were the porcelain gutter tops. The insulators are being cemented together with molten sulfur. There is a small sailing boat in the background and hundreds of cords of wood. I have a Magic Lantern slide of this photo but the image was not very clear. It was published (in reverse) on page 28 of my Multipart Porcelain Insulators book.

Paul Greaves has studied hundreds of M-2795 specimens and many other Fred Locke insulators. Here is Paul's comments and estimate on when the two photos were taken: "Although not quite clear enough to read them, I can see markings on them that look like 4-date markings. I have stared at it a while now, and see no evidence of any markings on the glass bases. This combined with rim feature detail makes me think the gutters are October-November 1900 production. So I guess I would date the photo to the winter of 1900-1901 (Dec. - Jan. time frame?)." Click here for the other photo: [id=318715363]

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