Insulators: Market Dominated by Serious Collectors

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", September 1991, page 5

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES
@ Harry L. Rinker
Editor of Warman's Americana & Collectibles

Recently, as I drove along U.S. Route 1 between Wake Forest and Henderson, N.C., I passed a series of railroad signal poles that still had glass insulators on the crossbars. The cross bars were within reach. The wires had been cut. Many insulators had already been removed. It was obvious that the insulators no longer served any function. 

There they were -- FREE for the taking. All I had to do was stop the car, walk approximately 20 yards, and they were mine -- all mine.

I kept on driving. I did not stop. Something is not right, I thought. I should have stopped. What happened to me? This is certainly not normal behavior. Am I ill? 

Actually, this is not the first time this has happened. A similar incident occurred in the summer of 1990 when I was driving parallel to a stretch of railroad in Illinois. Insulators within easy reach on abandoned railroad signal poles went on for miles and miles. I was tempted. But, I failed to bite the apple.

Am I losing the urge to collect? When it comes to collecting, discrimination has never been one of my faults. My life is based on the premise that if it is worth collecting, collect it. 

Even more frightening are these facts. One, I was driving home in my own car. Space was available. There was hardly anything on the floor in front of the passenger's seat. Problems of packaging and shipping, factors that often discourage purchases, were not present. Two, I own a 14,000 square-foot former elementary school that still has space available for new material. Three, I do not own any insulators, at least not any that I could find easily. This latter point alone was reason enough for me to stop. 

When lecturing about 20th-century collectibles, I always tell my audience there are three collectible categories which I hope never again enjoy a full-blown collecting craze in my lifetime -- Avon bottles, fruit jars and insulators. Most everyone laughs. Of course, I am only half serious. Hah!

In the late 1960s I served as the executive director of the Hugh Moore Park (Easton, Pa.), a 7-1/2-mile-long park encompassing a portion of the route of the Lehigh Canal. A railroad paralleled the canal for its last 3-1/2 miles. In the process of restoring the canal towpath, the park work crew discovered that a railroad crew had abandoned the signal poles and had simply thrown the obsolete insulators on the ground. I asked the park crew to collect them. The insulator collecting craze was then in its prime. Selling them to collectors might provide additional income for the park.

The crew put the insulators in 55-gallon metal drums. Imagine, if you can, drum upon drum filled with glass insulators. The drums were so heavy that I am surprised none of the crew developed a hernia. Attempts to sell the insulators proved a dismal failure. When I left the High Moore Park in 1970 to return to graduate school, the drums of insulators were still in storage. I wonder what happened to them?

Because insulators are a category in Warman's Americana & Collectibles, I continue to track the insulator market. One of the unusual aspects about the market is that insulators are identified and sold primarily by Consolidated Design (CD) numbers, a system developed by N.R. Woodward in his The Glass Insulator in America (published by the author). Woodward uses line art to document the shape and construction of each insulator. A copy of Woodward's The Glass Insulator In America - 1988 Report is available for $16 from Marilyn Albers, 14715 Oak Bend Drive, Houston, TX 77079. Understanding the CD numbering system requires a serious commitment on the part of a collector. Gary G. Cranfill and Greg A. Kareofelas' The Glass Insulator: A Comprehensive Reference (published by the authors, 1973) utilized pictures rather than line art. In 1971 Collector Books published 800 Insulators: Priced and Illustrated and reprinted it annually through 1978 (the last date on the one in my library). I checked several of the company's recent catalogs to see if it was still in print. It is not.

This is not to suggest that the collecting of insulators has fallen by the wayside. The field is alive and well. It simply turned inward. It is a market dominated by serious collectors and collector-dealers. Individuals keep in contact with each other through membership in the National Insulator Association (5 Brownstone Road, East Granby, CT 06026) and Crown Jewels of the Wire (P.O. Box 1003, St. Charles, IL 60174), an independent periodical.

Marion and Evelyn Milholland's Glass Insulator Reference Book, 4th Revision (published by the authors, 1976) with an accompanying price guide by Paul Keating, editor, has been a mainstay for pricing information. The 1990 edition of Keating's price guide can be obtained by sending $15 to Paul Keating, 1705 S.4lst St., Tacoma, WA 98405. The Milholland's book is available for $26, sent to Carla Walsh (the Milholland's granddaughter), P.O. Box 368, Freeland, WA 98249. Bob Alexander's Threaded Glass Insulator Price Guide ... For The Year 1988) provides an important second opinion.

John and Carol McDougald's new two volume set, Insulators: A History and Guide to North American Glass Pintype Insulator (available for $48.50 from The McDougalds, P.O. Box 1003, St. Charles, IL 60174), has the potential to reawaken a broad collecting interest in insulators. Volume One presents a detailed history of the development of the glass insulator, detailed histories of major manufacturers, and a clear explanation of the various types. Especially helpful are the full-color plates showing how to identify glass insulator colors.

The McDougalds' first volume clearly illustrates the research commitment of the collectible's collector and the willingness on the part of the collector to share it. Antiques collectors who rely heavily on museum curators and others to do their research, take notice. There are few topics in your area covered as well. The second McDougald volume is devoted to identifying glass insulators by type. Photographs are large and clear. There is no reason why anyone, whether an insulator collector or not, should have trouble identifying any example encountered. The only thing I would change is to put the color plates in Volume Two where I feel they would prove much more useful. 

The McDougalds have also prepared an insulator price guide. The 1991 edition costs $16 and can be ordered from the above address.

When the National Insulator Association held its annual convention in Allentown, Pa., a few years ago, I attended by special invitation. While there, I obtained a copy of Michael G. Guthrie's A Handbook For the Recognition & Identification Of Fake, Altered and Repaired Insulators (contact the author at 1209 W. Menlo, Fresno, CA 93711 at $6.00). This is one of the most important books I own.

I am hesitant about passing along the information. This book documents how faking, alteration and repair is done. In the wrong hands, this type of information has dangerous potential. What frightens me is that if this has been done to insulators, have the same techniques been applied to other glass categories, especially early American glass and bottles. I bet they have. 

As you know from previous columns, I am a major fan of specialized collectors, their publications and clubs. My principal regret is that so much of their information and literature is confined within their narrow collecting community. In many cases, such as insulators, it deserves far broader recognition.

MONDAY, August 12, 1991 ---
ANTIQUE WEEK