# Price check on the Insulator isle!



## Poison_Us (Aug 23, 2010)

Was coming home today and passed a few antique shops...soooo ...I dropped in to snoop.  Well, in one I found an insulator.  Trying to find what it looks most like on the NIA.org site.  And I cant find it exactly.  Closest thing to it is pintype CD 203







 the example I found was yellow.  I don't think it had the Zicme embossing, but it did have some around the skirt there, but I don't remember exactly what.  Any clues?  Sorry, I dont carry a camera around with me, and my cell is just that, a phone.  I went thru the entire site and this is the closest thing I can find.


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## Lineman3 (Aug 23, 2010)

Poison_Us   Try insulatorstore.com go to QA  Look up armstrong 203 that looks like your photo. if it  was yellow not green  it may be a color not in the their book yet.

                                                               Lineman 3


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## Poison_Us (Aug 23, 2010)

I was there initially, but all their listings were in the 100 group.  Did the search....that worked.  I'm guessing it's this...just dont remember the embossing...but this is close if not right on.  They were asking $25...perhaps because of the color.  I dont see many yellow insulators....


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## Brains (Aug 23, 2010)

armstrong never made a yellow glass insulator, i see lots of stained ones though.  I'm guessing it was stained.  Yellow insulators are very uncommon,  theres lots of shades of yellow ambers and stuf though.


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## Poison_Us (Aug 24, 2010)

I heard of the staining, but that was just a covering, it whould be able to be removed.  Any ideas how to check?  I will stop by the shop again when I go thru there and see if I can tell if it was stained, and perhaps get the embossing.  Maybe even bring the camera  []


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## BillinMo (Aug 24, 2010)

I'd guess it's either a Hemingray-56 or an Armstrong TW.  I suppose maybe a Kerr TW could be a possibility, too.  All are common in clear or off-clear.  A straw tint isn't unusual but if it's a strong yellow, it's probably stained as Bryan said.  

 $25 is WAAAAAY too much.  I'd say two bucks, tops.


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## BillinMo (Aug 24, 2010)

Here's a CD 197, the modern transposition that was produced before the development of the 203.  It's shown here in a strong straw color. 

http://www.nia.org/general/cd_text/cd197.htm

 Does that match the color, or was it a bright yellow?  Straw would be common.  Bright yellow would almost definitely be stained.


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## Poison_Us (Aug 24, 2010)

Survey says:     STAINED!

 It's a bright yellow.  Stopped by there on the way back from the store I was at (again) and took a good look at it.  There was a small piece of the "stain" missing on the inside of the skirt.  So...ya...a bust.  On and it was a Hemingray - 56 

 I stopped at another place just prior to that, which was closed the day before, and found more insulators.  Trying to find them on the insulator sites now...brb....


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## Poison_Us (Aug 24, 2010)

Ok, I didn't buy these.  Just looking for some hidden treasures for those who do.  So here is what I found.

 CD- 152 in dark olive






 CD-121 ( I think... he may have had 120 on his label, but I'm not sure it was accurate from what I'm finding)
 look at last row...

http://www.nia.org/general/cd_text/cd121.htm

 Ok, it was aqua, same shape as last one on page at the bottom.  Had "HEMINGRAY" on one side of the skirt and "PATENT" over MAY 2 1893" on the other side.  the "2" was in a more script style and not block like the rest.  The insulator had large nubs on the base like the other 2 on the bottom row...like the example on the 120 page.  But the shape was like the 121.


 Lastly, a Commemorative insulator.  I believe it's reproduction of a CD-718.  It's dark, marbled green with lighter green marbling in the top.  On the base is embossed "TELEGRAPH IN CANADA 1846 - 1996"  Don't know if these were used or not, but it did look cool.
 looks closest to this:






 If anyone is interested in any of these, let me know.
 The CD-121 has a large feather crack in the skirt, unfortunately.  Shame...


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## Poison_Us (Aug 25, 2010)

Found the exact CD 121 on the insulator store page (after a bit of searching.)  The guy had "rare embossing" on his label.  I don't know which part is rare.






 page with description here:

 http://www.insulatorstore.com/proddetail.asp?prod=3032-04


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## BillinMo (Aug 25, 2010)

Nice work.  You'll be a top-notch insulator sleuth in no time! []

 A CD 152 Brookfield in olive is better than the extremely common aqua, perhaps 3-5, maybe a buck or two more if it's in really great shape.  

 Sounds like it's a CD 121 you're describing. The "nubs" on the bottom are called "drip points"  and that feature is what the Patent May 2, 1893 embossing refers to.  You'll find the date is often embossed on Hemingray (or H.G. Co.) insulators in the 1893-1910 period.  The CD 121 embossed HEMINGRAY // PATENT / MAY 2, 1893 with sharp drips is a pretty common piece.  Not sure why the seller thought it was unusual (but then again, I usually take antique store claims with a grain of salt).  

 Incidentally, one of my very favorite pieces in my collection is a milky-swirled aqua in the same shape and embossing... but it has a smooth base, without drips!  

 You're dead on about that CD 718 -- it is indeed a commemorative and was never used on a line.  They were produced by a Canadian glass maker in Mayne Island, BC, in 1996 (as the marking indicates).  Here's his website. http://www.mayneislandglass.com/    I don't pay a lot of attention to commemoratives so I'm not sure what they're going for these days.  I'd guess around 20.00 or so.


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## Poison_Us (Aug 25, 2010)

I think he mistook this for a CD-120 and so ya, it may look like a rare example of that group, but it aint.

 I had a few insulators growing up, but I don't know what happened to them when I moved initially.  Perhaps I left them behind.  They were aqua in the standard style you think of when you think insulators, so I'm sure they were nothing special.  I do like them, especially the older styles with more unique shapes and colors...you know,  the expensive kind.[&:]  Don't know if we will ever get into collecting them, but I do like them.  I just keep my eyes out for stuff that people here might want.  

 Did find a local med.  Soloman Druggist Co.  I didn't pick it up, but I will next time I'm out that way.  He wanted a bit much for it in my book ($12).  Even tho it's a Savannah bottle, it's a 2.5" or so, clear, ABM....  so 1916 - 1930s.  I'll see if I can talk him down a bit.  Too much for such a small "later" bottle.  Neat thing is, my wife used to work for this company many years ago...so it's more personal to her than just being a local bottle.


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## BillinMo (Aug 26, 2010)

Well, it takes a bit of time and patience to get the hang of CD numbers, so I can sorta understand the mistake.  However, there is no known CD 120 embossed HEMINGRAY.  Those were all made back when Hemingray embossed insulators with Patent Dec. 19, 1871 and not the Hemingray name.  But I suppose that little bit of trivia is only interesting to insulator geeks. 

 Georgia is actually good insulator country.  A lot of Boston Bottle Works insulators turned up there, presumably put in place during Reconstruction in the 1870s.  I guess you'd probably remember if you had a screwtop on your shelf, though! 

 Funny how you like expensive insulators but collect poisons...I ended up the opposite way.  Years ago, when I was a teenage insulator collector at a bottle show, I saw a display featuring a cobalt figural skull poison and I thought it was one of the coolest bottles I'd ever seen. I thought maybe I'd like to own one. Then I discovered just how much those sell for!  I still think they're cool, but I doubt I'll ever spend that kind of money on a bottle.


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## Poison_Us (Aug 26, 2010)

Yup, a KU-10 can go for a pretty penny ( or a few thousand).  But so can some early, thread-less insulators.
 I just wish we didn't have to sell ours [].  But it was a must do.  When we get money again, we shall seek out another.  With enough money, I will buy any one I see and build a "graveyard" of KU-10s..  ALL WILL BE OURS!  [sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif]
 But I digress....


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## GuntherHess (Aug 26, 2010)

you tricked me , I thought there was some island with insulators on it...


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## Poison_Us (Aug 28, 2010)

Ne deception intended..[&:]

 Ok, I went back to that same antique store.  They had a new one out.  Was a glazed porcelain with the "bat wings" (don't know what they are really called, but I will call them that for now)

 It had THOMAS on the skirt in an arc.  It was brown glaze.  Without taking a picture of it and comparing it, I will have to go with this as none of the other example in this category mentioned THOMAS:

 U-384B







 I think many of the items are on consignment as this showed up days after I was there the first time.  This was had a price of $38 or something like that.  Of course it was labeled "RARE"

 Ok, what is the thing with going from CD to U when it comes to insulators?  Just a separation of material?

 Ok, So "U" is for UNIPART  and M is MULTIPART...I get that...but CD is????


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## BillinMo (Aug 29, 2010)

An island loaded with insulators?  I'd live there. 

 Ah, that shape is what we call a "Roman Helmet" or just "Helmet" for short.  They're a popular shape among collectors but they're certainly not rare by any stretch.  A brown THOMAS would probably be about $5.00, maybe a few bucks more if the glaze was pretty.

 There are three style charts for insulators.  
 Glass insulators are classified by Consolidated Design (CD), created by N. R. Woodward.  His original work was just for threaded North American pintypes, but later on he expanded it to include threadless and non-pintypes like spools and guy strains. 

 Porcelain pin type insulators use the Universal style chart (U), created by Jack Tod (decd).  At the time, hardly anyone collected multipart, so to keep the size of the book manageable, he limited it to only uniparts.   

 Multipart Porcelain (M) numbers are relatively new (1990 or so), created by Elton Gish.  Most of the multiparts after WW2 are kinda boring, but there's been a lot of interest over the past ten years in digging up old lines and they're finding all sorts of funky old multiparts from the 1900-1915 period.  

 Well, hey, you guys have G numbers for flasks, RB numbers for jars, and from your site I just learned a few days ago that poisons have K numbers.  Beats the heck out of me why the're not F, J and P. []


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## Poison_Us (Aug 29, 2010)

Well, in the Poison world, the "K" is for Kuhn's numbering structure.  The letter afterwords puts it into the shape category (or type when it comes to bug bottles (X) and embalming fluids (Z) regardless of shape).

 Thanks for all the help.


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