This Hemingray insulator is listed with the #4 blotted out. As you can see in this pic the #4 is obviously embossed over with the #7 of 72. In this case would the #7 be considered the blotout itself? I normally noticed with outher blotout insulators that you can't make out what once the molds embossed a particular insulator such as the Brookfield CD 121's with the blotouts on the rear skirt which I collect. Also, if you have any of those Brookfield blotouts I am looking for more sharp drip point EIN's now of all colors besides dark yellow greens with amber swirls. Wouldn't mind finding one with no amber swirls though. I believe I have all the smooth base colors there are but if you have them I would also be interested in what you may have available. I'd be willing to trade this insulator or others I have of like value. Let me know what you have and send me pics. Or, you can just answer my blotout question which was my original purpose of posting my question. Thanks.

Hi, Regarding this photo:

Technically speaking, I am not sure I would call that one a blotout at all. It seems to be more the case where the 7 was simply stamped over the 4. I think of blotouts as being the case where an attempt has been made to actually erase the previous lettering. It may be that the price guide listing should be changed in this regard (as the guide indicates many other cases where one character is stamped over another), or it is perhaps possible that some specimens exist with an actual blotout. Does anyone have one of these with a true blotout?

It is very much like writing or typing... say you make a mistake, and want to correct it. One method is to use "whiteout" and then re-write or type the corrected character. The other approach is to just write or type over the mistake, perhaps making the correction a little extra heavy to emphasize it.

In the case of your insulator, the correction was apparently made years after the original 4 was engraved. We know this because of the abundance of specimens that are embossed identically, but with the 4 intact. The embossing was changed to read "72" at a later point, because Hemingray (for some reason) changed their catalog numbers for a number of their power insulators.

Hope this helps, -Paul Greaves

Thanks Paul!!