This is the real rarity that I was ecstatic to add to my collection at the show. This Diamond CD 122 wouldn't look like anything to most collectors, but to me it's a real find. This piece is in the plain Diamond embossing, with no Dominion on the other side. This embossing type is surprisingly scarce in this style for whatever reason, so that's a treat in itself. The real treat, however, is the fact that it's completely colourless. Dominion-made insulators of this era were often decolourized with selenium and turned straw, peach, or pink colours when exposed to UV light for long periods of time. Dominion products are so common in those colours for this reason. This specific piece remains completely colourless and shows no signs whatsoever of use. I don't think it was ever used, so I guess that second part isn't surprising.

[id=750688786;I have a little lineup of decolourized Canadian insulators that remain unchanged by UV light], and this piece is a serious treat to add to it. I know it doesn't look like much to most collectors, but it's little rarities like this that I enjoy the most in the hobby. They aren't of great value and remain overlooked, and are all the more difficult to find for those reasons as well. Just think - this insulator was probably made in about 1920 or so, and has remained not only unused, but indoors and away from UV light for all that time. There are so many ways this piece could easily have been "ruined" by being left outside, including being pitched in the junk heap behind the garage by a collector who was active in the first 40 years of the hobby's history. This is surprising in itself given that even now this would be an under-appreciated insulator, and colourless stuff like this wouldn't have been on anyone's radar 40 years ago.

Oh, and if anyone has a light green example of the diamond CD 122, please get in touch with me. I'd be quite interested.