Crown Jewels of the Wire focuses on Youth

I have a special place in my heart that fuels my glass addiction and passion. Before I even started collecting Bitters bottles, Elizabeth and I met a couple at an insulator show in Houston, probably in the mid 1990’s. I really did not know a thing, except that I loved old glass and insulators were glass. I bought insulators from this couple at each show and always looked forward to seeing them, talking and adding to my small collection. They even invited us to their house to see their collection. We were amazed, stunned and realized we were in the presence of something special. This couple was Marilyn and Bill Albers. We were with royalty in the insulator world. I will even go as far as saying this influenced my collecting as I specialize in depth and color runs.

Eli got a nice collection from Howard and Linda Banks with the Insulators for Kids program!!

Anyway, I did a post yesterday on Insulators and came across some simply great pictures and stories (read post: Insulator Hunters). One picture stood out and it was a picture of 9-year old Eli Herron of Toccoa, Georgia (see above). This picture says it all and represents the future and where we are going, and that is with our youth. Another picture of young Eli (see below) is in the latest issue of Crown Jewels of the Wire. This reminded me of when my granddaughter Adriana’s picture (see below) was posted on Reggie Lynch’s newsletter in 2005. I was so proud and excited (so I am doing it again Ha!).

We congratulate Eli and his dad Mike Herron. Eli, I am putting your pictures up again because they are so special. I am also promoting Crown Jewels of the Wire here and saluting our friends that collect insulators for focusing on youth.

9-year-old Eli Herron of Toccoa, Georgia shows off the insulators he received from Crown Jewels of the Wire and their donors

Girl power: Adriana Aliciana (grandaughter of Ferdinand Meyer), Joan Cabaniss, and Joanne Scaturro. - Southeast Bottle Club - March/April 2005 newsletter (Poison Bottle Collectors)

Crown Jewels of the Wire is dedicated to the collectors of historic glass and porcelain insulators used by telegraph, telephone and electric power utilities. Insulators are the “crown jewels of the Wire.”

What Are Insulators? “Insulators? You mean those glass things on the top of telephone poles? I must have shot at hundreds of those things when I was a kid!” Insulator collectors hear that a lot, as we attempt to explain just what it is that we collect. Hearing it usually makes us cringe, wondering just what rare treasure that person shot off the crossarm those many years ago.