I have been an insulator collector since the late 1950's and have only recently discovered Crown Jewels of the Wire.

It is my desire to share with all my collector friends the unusual and unknown (maybe to them) insulators in my collection in the hope that it will be of interest. 

I read in the June 1999 issue the article by Marilyn Albers about the ironclad insulator found in Uruguay. I have something similar that I found in 1967 in the scrap heap of a telegraph workshop in Udine, in northeastern Italy. It is a white porcelain insulator covered by a shell of sheet pressed iron or steel enameled in a dark grey color, which is secured to the porcelain with cement.

It measures 134 mm high (5-1/4"),102 mm diameter (4") and weighs 1,5 kilograms (about 3Ibs.) The workshop personnel told me that this insulator is of Austrian origin. Part of the area covered by the Udine workshop was Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918, so it is very likely that former Austrian telegraph line material which remained until recent times in Italian territory. The iron shell is a bit thin (about 1,5 mm) but has proven to resist shocks, as can be seen by the many damages suffered by the enamel, well visible in the photos.

And, speaking of iron shells, the insulator featured in the October issue of Crown Jewels of the Wire (page 6), is certainly an overhead wire insulator but not for ordinary trolley lines, I think. These two flanges at the top end suggest bolts fixing to an upper member, such as a bridge or the ceiling of a tunnel, that makes me think it was designed for mine use where the proximity of the suspension points would have lessened the shocks caused to the insulator by the current collector, thus allowing for the use of glass instead of more elastic composite material generally adopted for trolley wire insulation. The purpose of the depression on the top is only to spare iron and lighten the shell.

I realize that I have not spoken of Italian insulators, and this is odd as a first contact by an Italian collector, but I will correct that next time.