Brief history of glass insulators

I am currently working on an estate with a large collection of vintage insulators. These colorful glass pieces were used on telegraph and telephone poles screwed to wood pegs in the cross arms of the poles where the lines were tied from pole to pole. The insulators are almost like little umbrellas of sorts because the bottom “skirt” of the insulator and the smooth top kept the rain off of the line and kept the wood pegs from conducting electricity during rainy days and nights.

There are many colors of insulators as the glass companies that produced them often used whatever leftover glass they had at the end of the day or recycled glass to make the insulators. Often the insulators with flint in the glass turned a brilliant purple after being exposed to lots of sunlight over time. The heyday of insulators is considered to be the period between 1875-1930.

There were many producers of insulators, the most prolific being Hemingray. Clear and aqua blue are the most common colors of insulators. There were no red insulators, so if you see one it is a fake.

When something becomes collectible you start getting fakes. Some people are faking the purple flint glass. The unusual colors like amber, olive green, cobalt, blue green are more collectible, and the most rare are mixed colors or Vaseline glass insulators.

Insulators are usually cheap and easy to collect. Make sure you collect ones that aren’t chipped or cracked. You will often see swirls or bubbles in the glass, which aren’t flaws but character. Some companies produced insulators that resembled a beehive or ones with what are often referred to as “Mickey Mouse” ears.

If you want to get started in this collectible read lots of price guides and do your studies on the internet. There are lots of collector’s clubs out there. Most collectors love to tell about their collections and share their knowledge with new collectors.

As the telecommunications industry changed, the insulators began to be dismantled in the 1960s. A lot of linemen collected or traded the old insulators or people would walk along the railroad tracks as the phone lines often ran alongside them and look for insulators that might have survived being tossed aside as they were discarded.

Sometimes when we are riding out in the country, I catch a glimpse of an aqua blue insulator on an old telephone pole and it makes me smile. When my boys were young, I got them interested in collecting insulators so I could look through the antique stores and malls without them being bored or running around.

Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 31 years and is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com.

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