Topic: Glass insulators

[Margi]

Hello I have arranged to see a gentleman tomorrow who is selling 16 insulators complete with brackets, thankfully I am taking the OH with me as it was him who told me they were collectible.  My question is are they better sold on with the metal brackets or without.

[Ivo]

for this you need to check out glass insulator sites of which there are several. Be aware that the market is in the US and that the dollar is on its way down again.

[Margi]

Thanks Ivo have researched some and fingers crossed there will be the rare dark olive green CD494 I think it was called.  I have been watching the dollar slide and it is obviously the same with the Euro - a complete nightmare but at least the deisel is cheaper again - always a positive comes from a negative.

[Bernard C]

Here's a comprehensive site to start with:

http://glassian.org/index.html

Bernard C. 

[Margi]

Thanks Bernard I have seen glassian.org site before but when looking at glass bricks I even emailed them at one point but it completely skipped my memory.  I see that he has insulators with brackets on his wanted to expand list so will hopefully get a phone call from the seller today.  I am quite excited.  There is two insulators with brackets on the barn but way too high for us to get them down otherwise I would know what I was looking at.  One thing that confuses me is a four way ramp insulator I cannot find anything that resembles this on the internet but then again I may be completely misunderstanding the french translation.
Thanks to Ivo too have found some other interesting sites and they givee me a good indication of resale value.

[Anne]

Margi, Ian (glassian) is a member here so he may pop in and comment.

[Margi]

Well you would never guess what - we went to meet this gentleman but he never called me we got home to discover he had rung the house number instead of my mobile grrr  :cry: We are trying to arrange another meet.  Still intrigued on what a 4 way ramp is and yes Anne hopefully Ian will pop in and advise.

[ian.macky]

Hullo all.  Insulators, eh?  One of my topics!

Most insulator collectors are only interested in the glass (or porcelain) and so most insulators are sold sans hardware.  In the US, they are just threaded onto the metal/wood pins so this is no big deal, you just unscrew them;  in the  early "threadless" years,  they were cemented/glued onto plain wooden pins.  Very very rare to find original threadless pins these days, and if you found an original insulator/pain combination, you would never ever try to separate them.  They can only be original once!

For "foreign" (non-US) insulators, often they are cemented on, and removing the pins is a huge pain.  I had thought the OZ pieces were threaded also, just with a different (metric) pitch.  Is that not so?  At any rate, I can tell you that in the US, Lou Hall is the main collector of insulator hardware-- he collects mostly any hardware that insulators were attached to, instead of the insulators themselves.  Not sure if he's into "foreign" or not.  Here is one of his hardware displays at the 2005 National show:



Most collectors will not want them with the hardware.  BUT, some definitely do, me included, and the original, matching hardware is often much rarer than the insulator itself.

Since they can only be original once, I would keep them in original condition, and pass them along as-is, or at least give the option.  If the buyer wishes to remove them from the hardware, they may do it themselves (there are write-ups about how).  It's a lot of work sawing and extricating the cement, however.  You may want to try removing the hardware from one (duplicate?) just to see how much work would be involved.  There's always the chance of damaging the insulators (or yourself!) during the operation, so be warned.

Two of my most prized "foreign" (French) insulators are on the hardware, an asymmetrical pair like in this postcard (but in a nice green glass):



Look, they are surrendering, ha ha!

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of your OZ pieces.  Presumably they are AGEE, or  AGM or CCG.  "AGEE" is a bit funny: the company was Australian Glass, whose abbreviation AG sounds like you've just taken a crossbow bolt to the neck, so they emboss it AGEE on the glass so you will know how to pronounce it properly!  You can find a history of Australian insulators here.

Cheers...

--ian

[Margi]

Thanks for replying Ian much appreciated.  The insulators I am referring to are actually french not OZ.  At this moment in time I know nothing about them except I have seen a picture.  There are some duplications from what I see on the photo that the gentleman has sent me whether they are threaded or not threaded remains to be seen.  I find the cement comment rather interesting as I cannot see any cement on them and that is the same for the two that are on the barn outside my home maybe I am just being blind.  If you are interested in still seeing a photograph of them I shall forward it on with permission from the current owner.  Some remind me of a bell but with a nipped on waist near the top (hopefully you now what I am referring to).
For now
Margi

[ian.macky]

Hi Margi.  French insulators are always cemented onto steel pins, and are very hard to remove!  They don't have any threads in the glass, but there are likely to be concentric ridges to help keep it attached.  I looked up OZ insulators and the glass ones are indeed threaded.  As for pictures-- sure, let's see them!  Cheers....  --ian