Looking for something interesting, beautiful and low cost to collect, then try antique insulators. Insulators have been used ever since Samuel Morse transmitted the first telegraph message over a short telegraph line along a railroad between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD in 1844. Glass insulators were first manufactured in the 1850s for use with telegraph lines that were rapidly expanding across America. In the 1920s electricity and telephone signals moved over open copper wire. At each pole glass insulators were used starting this popular hobby of insulator collecting. Insulators come in many sizes, shapes and colors. They were made of many different types materials including rubber, porcelain, pottery, glass, composition, fiberglass, metal, wood and mica. Glass and porcelain insulators are extensively collected by manufacturer and color. Glass insulators are usually found marked with a manufacturer or users name embossed on the insulator such as Hemingray No.9. made by the Hemingray Glass Company that was located in Muncie, Indiana. The American Telephone and Telegraph Co. embossed their insulators with AM TEL & TEL Co. Most insulators were marked on their crown or skirt. Armstrong's, Brookfield, California, Diamond, Dominion, Hemingray, Kerr, Lynchburg, Maydwell, NEGM and Whitall Tatum are some of the more common names found on glass insulators. There are a wide variety of insulators made of porcelain, ceramic, stoneware and other related materials. Collectors primarily focus on pin-types and insulators used on early radio receiver antennas. Manufacturer names to look for are Cook, Jobson Bros., Johns-Manville, Fred M Locke, New Westminster and Varley. You can determine the age of an antique insulator by looking for any marking stamped or embossed on its surface. Sometimes the approximate age can be determined by a patent date on the insulator. The last glass insulator manufacturer in the United States was Kerr, located in Millville, NJ. Kerr stopped producing insulators in 1979. Value is determined by many factors such as condition, manufacturer, quantity made, color, age and demand by collectors. The best place to buy antique insulators is eBay. |
