I was fortunate enough to finally pick up a CD 1050 Hemingray-519 (on the right). Just to give you a feel for how underrated these pieces are in my opinion, it took me about 25 years to find one. Looking back on ICON, I could only find one other photo of a CD 1050 Hemingray [id=86789022], in the collection of Bob Stahr; the rest are the more well-known Zicme spools from Colombia.

Pictured on the left is the more common CD 1053 D-519 [020] (Hemingray product). Pictured on the right is the Hemingray-embossed CD 1050. The dimensions are similar, but the difference in design is more apparent when compared side by side. This particular CD 1050 has a mold & date code of "3-49.", indicating these were produced in 1949-1950. Why there aren't more of these around is not known, but they were intended for use as secondary power distribution insulators.

One other less obvious difference is the hole size: the CD 1053 has a 0.6" hole, whereas the CD 1050 is 0.75". Also, there is no "bump" around the top of the hole on the Hemingray CD 1050. This also differs from the Zicme CD 1050's, which do have a bump on top similar to the CD 1053.

If anyone else out there has a CD 1050 Hemingray-519, I'd be very interested in hearing what your mold & date codes say! Please contact me at mr. hemingray@gmail.com.

Edit: Bill Meier contacted me and let me know that his has a mold & date code of "10-49." So we're up to at least 10 molds now. Does anyone else have one?