All that glitters isn’t gold, and apparently all that is purple isn’t actually, well, purple. The saga of my purple insulators sure has been a roller coaster ride–one that I am sad I ever had to ride on.
I had been in communication with the buyer of my insulators as soon as I sold them. He was super nice and I actually ended up sending him some other common insulators I had laying around. I checked in with him to make sure the package arrived safely and that he signed for it and blah blah. Then, I heard nothing.
A week passed and I felt comfortable spending the profit I made from this sale. I hadn’t heard anything to the contrary, so I figured the buyer must be happy with his new purple glass buddies.
And then I got the following ebay message:
I immediately felt ill. I knew this wasn’t good. F#$K F#$K F#$K. I was at my parents’ house when this happened and I seriously felt like I got punched in the stomach. It was that bad. I couldn’t breathe.
Because $425 is a lot of money, and I had just gone on a Christmas shopping spree :(
Andy was actually really nice when I finally spoke to him on the phone. I wanted to hate him. And I wanted to blame him for this whole ordeal or try and prove somehow that he was the one scamming me. I knew though that wasn’t true.
I should have realized something was up, because purple insulators are REALLY rare. For me to find THREE of them all together was like lightning striking me not once, not twice, but, yes, three times.
What I can blame Andy for was the fact that he had a hunch these insulators were irradiated. He kept saying on the phone that he was “taking a gamble” on them. To me, if you are knowingly taking a risk on something, then you are assuming some responsibility for the fallout. I felt as though Andy should’ve tipped me off that these might be tampered with. I could have pulled down the listing and done some investigating. Like my previous post, I did get tipped off by another ebay member, but he seemed really jackass-y about it. I didn’t believe him.
I guess I should have.
Anyway, Andy told me not to panic quite yet, as he still had to blacklight test the insulators. Irradiated insulators don’t glow under a blacklight because the xrays used to irradiate them have messed up the manganese composition of the glass (or something like this…you get the idea.) Andy also told me that I could refund him little by little if needed–that he wouldn’t be filing any claims with paypal or ebay.
While waiting for Andy to acquire a blacklight to test the insulators, I went ahead and sent photos to several insulator experts at the NIA (National Insulator Association). The decision was unanimous. Literally 6 different insulator experts (who knew the world had so many) said my insulators were irradiated.
I wanted to write back Dwayne Anthony and be like, “Damn. What a harsh and cruel blow you have delivered to me D.A. Can I call you D.A.?" Instead, I was all, "Bummer. Thanks.”
What is amazing about the NIA is that its Authentication & Classification Advisor, named Paul, offered to take up a collection among its members to help me cover my financial loss in buying these insulators originally. He was really impressed that I actually cared whether my insulators were irradiated and that I was refunding the ebay buyer.
I explained to Paul that only $4 was spent on the insulators when my parents originally bought them, so I wasn’t really out anything (EXCEPT MY AMAZING EBAY PROFIT, but I digress…)
Seriously, how nice is that? Insulator people might be the most boring collectors of all time, but they sure are nice as hell.
Ok so, let’s wind this up. The blacklight test went about as sh*tty as could be expected. My insulators didn’t glow. Andy sent me some photos:
That’s one of his legit purple insulators.
Here is one of my insulators:
WHOMP WHOMP. You win this round Andy.
And in the end, I still kinda won. Andy didn’t make me give him a full refund, just a partial one. He said because it is Christmas, and because, like he said, he was “taking a gamble." I think that is fair.
So still keep your eyes out for purple insulators everyone. But before you buy them, turn your eyes into blacklights and look at the insulators REAL close. Happy hunting!
-Erin