Curious California Color: Copper This California glass color has been known in the hobby literature since 1980 (October 1980 OBX magazine) but did not get listed in the price guide until over 20 years later (2003). In the photo, the light copper one on the left was purchased from a fellow Cal collector and its lineage can be traced to a B & J catalog auction and a later Eagle Cap auction. The middle one, the toll, was purchased in an eBay auction in the late 1990's from a North Carolina seller who rediscovered his insulator collection in his garage after packing it away in the 1970's. The CD 161 on the far right was acquired in trade from a collector in Oregon. Both the middle one (toll) and the far right side one (signal) were photographed for an article on California insulators in the May 2004 issue of CJOW.

Other copper examples have been reported in the literature or seen in displays. There are reports of a copper Cal CD 133 and a helmet CD 260. I have also seen another copper color toll in a display. All of these additional examples were last reported somewhere on the East Coast. It is not known if the copper color is an original manufacturer's glass color or a transitional color. Collectors have reported yellow, peach and burgundy colored Cals with light copper tones. The middle and right side examples in the photo have purple swirls.

There are at least two copper Cal CD 161's whose color were achieved through heat alteration. One copper example is lightly slumped and has a flatten, hazy base-- which are signs of heat alteration. The other light copper example was created by heating a burgundy Cal gradually until the color reverted. The latter example shows no signs of heat alteration and has been permanently marked as ALTERED. This latter example was on display at the 2020 Springfield Show.