This little emerald green one is from the Ukraine, CD is probably 586, the front is embossed BC3 which is the Cyrillic letters equivalent to VSZ the rear is marked 49. About 2.3 inches base diameter and 3.5 inches tall. Update 6/1/05: C3 (SZ) is the Cyrillic alphabet initials for "Glass Factory" i(Stekolniy Zhavod) n Russian, B (V) may be Verchenuralsk. This still bears more researching before being verified. So, if this is the case, the insulator would be Russian and not Ukraine. 49 is most likely the date 1949, though all the various BC3 insulators I have seen are all numbered "49" on the back.

In addition to this BC3 / VSZ insulator, I have one in the flat top, "domer" version, as being sold by Pavel Yelkin here: [id=106074154] and another short, BC3 with a single wire grove, and top saddle groove. All are the same emerald green color, and have the same BC3 // 49 embossings. From this I would surmise that BC3 is either the end users or manufacturers name and not the model number of these insulators

The flat top version of this insulator is probably a CD 474, TBD.

I also have a white porcelain twin to this, but the overall height is about 1/2 inch less. It is not embossed/incused with "BC3".

[IFONA CD 586]