Out Insualtor Hunting The Next Few Days

I got to see some of the base jumping from the bridge on TV. One guy made a perfect landing in his wheelchair. (I would get sick just looking down.)


You got nice additions to your collection. Somebody out there got the missing numbers.....now you have to track them down.

Cool thread. I've always liked the look of these. We have a couple that we use as doorstops

@Hambone
These Hemingray 42, 45, and WT no 1 in clear are the most common pieces (although an aqua Hemingray 42 would rival this - millions and millions made ). However, check the Hemingray 42 to see if it has a large MR above the embossing on the skirt - this is a rare and expensive piece if the MR is there (and no one knows what it stands for as there are no records). The Hemingray 56s are still found only 1-2.00 at a show, but still are a cool shape.

One other thing to realize though is that all of these you mention are antique as he last glass insulator made in the States was in 1978. If you want to have fun finding the date these were made, some of the Hemingray pieces might have date codes on them in the form of dots. I can dig out the info and send it to you.

And you are right... it never hurts to ask!

@Hambone

Anytime...





I know I have seen a lot of people line sidewalks, outside stairways, or even just pound a piece if PVC into the ground in a decorative garden and put the insulators on top. They look good outside where the sun can catch them and make them shine. This is what I miss most about seeing RR tracks nowadays. It used to be you could drive along and see a bunch of sparkling glass decorating the RRs - now they look so bare since most have been removed and trashed.

A lot of the glass made in the west by Western Flint Glass does fluoresce, and I assume you are correct in thstat is is uranium glass, although I do not know for sure.

In recent relatively years, there have been commemoratives and special issue insulators made just for collectors (compare to the CCF family coins of this forum) of uranium glass just for this purpose.

As to colors:

1. Only the Hemingray factory made special colors to order. These were to aid the linemen from "Company A" to ID which wires were "Company A's" wires on lines where "Company A" and "Company B" had their systems set up. "Company A" might choose cobalt blue while "Company B" chose amber.

2. Purples were all made as clear - but he manganese, used for the purpose of producing clear glass form the melted batch, turned purple in the sun's UV rays (glad it did!)

3. Most colors were accidental in that melted glass cullet was used to aid in melting the sand used to make the glass. From what I understand making glass from sand is a lot more difficult without previous glass being used as a catalyst.

4. Mostly it is colors that draw people to these (who doesn't like the look of a window of colored glass?), but some clear ones are very rare and valued as much (if not more). Compare this to the eye appeal of a coin - we like either toned or blast white depending on our preferences, but an 1800 silver dollar in AG is valuable b/c of rarity.

5. The best thing s that like coins, these have eye appeal and history to make them desirable.

I have posted this on another thread, but here is a look at some of what I see when the sun comes up each day.




There is a price guide, like in coins. And values depend on what people like and for what reasons they like them. Like coins, people start out collecting everything and then settle into specialties.

The insulator hobby - although much, much smaller than the coin hobby -
is like a large family - just like here on CCF. One of the largest shows is coming up in Springfiled OH starting this next thursday night and going through Sunday, and I am looking forward to it b/c of the family reunion atmosphere.

I know others on this forum, after other posts, have enjoyed looking at insulators.info - specifically browsing the picture gallery link that can be found there.

NIA.org also has a link that has a picture of one of each profile (known as a "Colnsolidated Design - or CD - and assigned their own CD number) to make identification easier. As to values, the price guide link is also on insulators.info, but perusal of the picture gallery by searching for a CD can help determining value.

B/c the hobby is not as well known as others, I can honestly say everyone I know who is active in the insulator hobby has made a first rare find in antique shops, garage sales, flea markets etc. within the first 5 years of being in the hobby.

Also, and the area I like, a lot of the research in specialty areas is still open to those who like a good challenge/mystery.

I t would be interesting to have a geiger counter and tell. Interetingly enough, I have actually done some research in the past with effects of irradiating insulators b/c, like in the bottle hobby some people have tried to duplicate rare ones by irradiation. A whole new branch of this hobby came into being where we were trying to educate people on what altered ones look like so they will not be taken. Just like with coins - people fake these also

But with any exposure to finding out what the fakes are like, actually insulator fakes are relatively easy to tell apart sine the irradiation has yet to make a plausible fake when side by side with an original.

I also have a couple miniature collector item "insulators"made of neodymium glass. Different light sources make it different colors.

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Wow - those are some cool insulators!

I've never really got into this as a hobby, but like Earle42 I remember seeing them along railroad tracks. I've seen lots of glass ones when traveling by train in the US and Canada, but in the UK railroad insulators are mostly ceramic - and now very rare to find in situ as most poles have been felled. A couple of years ago I went for a ride on a railway in France from Autun to Avallon in Burgundy just a few weeks before the line closed to passengers as a new high-speed line now parallels it. There were some lovely blue glass insulators on the poles along that line, and the pole route was obviously abandoned. I'd love to go back there with a car and try to unscrew a couple!

The two ceramic insulators I have at home both came from the Hershey Electric Railway in Cuba - I was on holiday there a few years ago and saw an old pole lying by the tracks and unscrewed a couple of insulators. I expect they are of US origin as the railway was originally US owned.