THE BLUE INSULATOR
Here is that once in a lifetime find.
On the way home from the Reno show, we stopped at another Nevada gold camp . Another steep canyon with flats cut from the sides where houses were once perched. The residents merely tossed their trash out the doors and windows for us to dig a hundred plus years later. So we found layers on the hill side up to a foot deep of ash , bone , and broken glass over in this thick , tough buffalo grass. By the end of the day we only had an old rusty pistol and we broke the only bottle we found trying to hack it out of very hard , dry earth.
As we prepared to leave the area , may partner returned from wandering down in the bottom of the canyon. In his hand was a short , stubby cobalt insulator which he found only half buried down in the flat. Reed remarked maybe in could fetch a hundred dollars if we were lucky.
Tired of the heat we decided to head home. The four of us piled into the van and headed down the dusty road. I slipped off my shoes and propped my feet on the dash and glanced out the window wondering what treasures were still buried in this canyon.
Reed suddenly exclaimed , " What the hell !! ". I turned away from the window and found a rather large gray lizard resting on my thigh looking like he was my little pet. Apparrently , we had left the door ajar and he came in seeking shade. This was a smart lizard. We rolled to a stop and I opened the door and gingerly dislodged the hitchhiker and watched him scurry away in the dust. I never let on to my companions of my near heart attack or scream, which, considering my surprise , I felt was due.
We proceeded home with no other excitement until we arrived and I called a local insulator collector. After my causal description of our find , his calling me a liar several times , and a lot of beating around the bush from him as he wanted our find , he confessed it was an awesome piece worth between $7500 to $10,000.
And just were did I we find it he inquired. I responded that it was somewhere between the California border and Utah in the lizards
den.
NOTE:
In March 2008, the insulator sold for $9,350!
On the way home from the Reno show, we stopped at another Nevada gold camp . Another steep canyon with flats cut from the sides where houses were once perched. The residents merely tossed their trash out the doors and windows for us to dig a hundred plus years later. So we found layers on the hill side up to a foot deep of ash , bone , and broken glass over in this thick , tough buffalo grass. By the end of the day we only had an old rusty pistol and we broke the only bottle we found trying to hack it out of very hard , dry earth.
As we prepared to leave the area , may partner returned from wandering down in the bottom of the canyon. In his hand was a short , stubby cobalt insulator which he found only half buried down in the flat. Reed remarked maybe in could fetch a hundred dollars if we were lucky.
Tired of the heat we decided to head home. The four of us piled into the van and headed down the dusty road. I slipped off my shoes and propped my feet on the dash and glanced out the window wondering what treasures were still buried in this canyon.
Reed suddenly exclaimed , " What the hell !! ". I turned away from the window and found a rather large gray lizard resting on my thigh looking like he was my little pet. Apparrently , we had left the door ajar and he came in seeking shade. This was a smart lizard. We rolled to a stop and I opened the door and gingerly dislodged the hitchhiker and watched him scurry away in the dust. I never let on to my companions of my near heart attack or scream, which, considering my surprise , I felt was due.
We proceeded home with no other excitement until we arrived and I called a local insulator collector. After my causal description of our find , his calling me a liar several times , and a lot of beating around the bush from him as he wanted our find , he confessed it was an awesome piece worth between $7500 to $10,000.
And just were did I we find it he inquired. I responded that it was somewhere between the California border and Utah in the lizards
den.
NOTE:
In March 2008, the insulator sold for $9,350!
