( Photo courtesy of Pat Scott ) This insulator has a number of characteristics that make it an important new find for porcelain insulator collectors .... Fred Locke production at The Victor plant falls into three periods... 1898-1899 the time of early ceramic and glaze experimentation when insulators were twice fired and marked with ink stamps. 1900-1901 when the first single fired products were made after new larger kilns were installed, And finally 1902-1904 which was the era of large scale production. This period began after a devastating fire completely destroyed the factory in late December of 1901 . Other then the M-2795/96 gutter top multiparts, production of other larger cemented insulators was VERY limited during the 1900-1901 period . The only other insulators reported till now were the M-2842 and the very rare M-2335 . This is the first new addition to this list in over 30 years. This insulator with a manufacturing date of Dec17 1901 was likely sitting in a rail car next to the plant when it burned or it was shipped out only a week before. It is also a new find in that it has a 1" pinhole . Note the narrow tie wire groove and very sharp features of the crown. These crows were manufactured separately from the insulator body and " applied " using clay slip . This time consuming manufacturing characteristic mostly disappeared on insulators after 1901 except the gutter tops.

This insulator also has the distinction of having been in continuous service longer then any other cemented multipart in north America... 110 years! lastly it is the latest date stamp reported in Paul Greaves data base of 1900-1901 date stamps other then fire damaged specimens found in the victor dump!