A second specimen of the sandy blue gray M-3158 Thomas has surfaced!!!

Amongst local collectors in the Pacific Northwest there are several sought after rarities unique to our region . Amongst them are the M-2335 little gutter, M-4325 marked Pittsburgh, M-4325 Fred Locke, U-383 Fred Locke and the Imperial U-946.... One stile has though, has eluded every collector in this region except for well known and loved local collector Mike Parker who passed away a few years ago . He picked up his specimen in the 1950's when he and a group of local kids he was friends with in the Portland, Or area became interested in collecting insulators . He owned the specimen his whole life and it was the top jewel in his collection till he passed away . Mike's specimen is now owned by Bill Ostrander. I got a tip from another non-porcelain collector about a gray porcelain insulator with a big rusty pin cemented in it that was found by a junk dealer in Tillamook, Or a few days ago . On my way back from Bill Rohde's I took a long detour and drove out to the coast to see it . It turned out to be a specimen of the elusive Thomas M-3158 ! My heart skipped a beat when I first saw it. This insulator was known to have been used on an electric interurban line in the Portland, Or area but was long ago changed out for a larger insulator design . This specimen was clearly used as a yard ornament for decades as the lower part of the pin had clearly been buried upright in the soil wile the insulator itself and the upper part of the pin was clean I wire wheeled the pin off Other then a crown cement expansion crack the unit is mint . It has a very unique glaze for Thomas being sandy speckled blue with a green gray base ... This is truly one of the prettiest insulators ever used in the Northwest ! It is sad though that so few have survived . We here in the northwest really miss Mike Parker . He had a heart of gold and could tell stories that would keep you riveted ... every time I look at this piece I think of him .