The Glory of Glass

CANYONVILLE -- Scott Morrell can still remember when his fascination for insulators ignited.

The Medford resident was about 7 when he saw glass objects resting on top of telephone poles. On a drive with his mother, he had asked her what they were, but she wasn't sure. He then asked if he could have one, and she said no.

Since then, Morrell has spent his adulthood obtaining about 300 insulators, objects originally designed to shelter telephone and telegraph wires. His collection is worth about $10,000. Joining dozens of other Oregon collectors, he displayed his finds at the Jefferson State Insulator and Antique Bottle Show at Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Resort Convention Center Saturday. About 400 people attended the event.

"It's not just the monetary investment," said Morrell, the show chairman and president of the Jefferson State Insulator Club. "It's the history and the beauty -- that's the number one appeal. ... I'm pleased with what the local residents have brought in, I've seen some fantastic pieces come out of the woodwork."

The event, which featured hundreds of glass insulators and old bottles, was co-hosted by the Jefferson club and the Siskiyou Antique Bottle Collectors Association. Until this year, the two groups had put on separate shows in Southern Oregon. This fall, though, the groups decided to join forces -- displaying their colorful wares on about 90 tables.

One table was stocked with bottles belonging to Dale Mlasko of Medford. Owner of about 500 pieces, he said their value derives from the crudity of the glass, rarity, color and embossing. He's particularly attracted to bottles made in the West Coast, and he locates them by bidding on eBay, going to auctions and even digging where people commonly tossed their garbage in the 1860s and 1870s.

His prize possession, though, is a bottle made in the 1870s by Marx Jorgensen, a Portland-based wholesale wine and whiskey merchant. To the untrained eye, the slim, brown bottle is common, something one could find in any bar or tavern.

But Mlasko knows differently. Because there are only two such bottles in existence, the value of his possession is worth between $20,000 to $30,000.

"It's a passion that never goes away," said Mlasko about bottle collecting. "The drive to add another piece to your collection just continues."

Tim Wood of Albany can understand this passion. For the past 31 years, he's obtained about 2,000 insulators.

He found his first one while driving through Eastern Oregon with his new bride -- tipping over an unused pole to receive his bounty. He now stores his entire collection in a bedroom, complete with wall-to-wall shelves and backlighting.

"Insulators are a great hobby," he said. "The colors, the shapes, the history and the nice, wonderful people you meet, it's great."

Compared to Wood, Stan Severi of Brookings is a novice collector. Owning about 350 insulators, he said these objects are both unique and historic -- vehicles used to help operate the first communications systems around the world.

"I kind of like odd things," he said about his hobby. "Not a lot of people know about insulators. It's different -- the variety, the shapes, you can collect for a long time and still never get them all."



* You can reach reporter Erin Snelgrove at 957-4208 or by e-mail at esnelgrove@newsreview.info.