Old Electric Insulators

[Over Yonder]

My uncle recently purchased a piece of ground. It has a hillside beside what appears to be an old road. May not be but who knows. Anyway, the hillside is covered with these. I'm talking possibly thousands. Me and my brother walked through it yesterday. He filled his side-by-side with em to use as yard ornaments. They are mostly 2 different styles. I have only found 1 pic that is similar to 1 of the styles

https://www.google.com/search?q=electric+insulators+images&rlz=1C1PRFE_enUS642US645&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=635&tbm=isch&imgil=Vb8bj9VfXYjH5M%253A%253BAIbK4jKQlDltzM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fbestlilstore.com%25252Fsho p%25252Fhemingray-glass-electric-insulators-2-p-760.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=Vb8bj9VfXYjH5M%253A%252CAIbK4jKQlDltzM%252C_&usg=__3eAYZ2PV0N9U0MaiZ2pNL0AlsSM%3D

Is there anywhere on the internet that I can possibly look up the numbers and see what we have? I'm not having any luck. Somebody has obviously dumped off a load of them so I assume not worth much.

Edit:The first image is what we found. Not sure what I did to link all them pictures.

[displacedinMN]

People used to kill for those things. There was a high demand and price. Good luck. post a pic when you get a chance.

[oldman]

Those could be telephone insulators used on open wire. I never had to put any up except in training, but there could have been as many as 10 on each cross arm and multiple cross arms on each pole. Spinning the ones on pin 1 and 10 were a real thrill because you had to unbuckle your strap and thread it under the brace opposite the side you were working on and over the brace on the working side. I'm not very tall, so I was pretty much at a 45 degree angle stretching out. Then you had to pull yourself back upright, unbuckle and do it again for the other side.
I don't know about now, but they were in demand for decorations back in the 80s and were going for as much as $5 each, depending on the color and condition. Since open wire is pretty much gone, you might be sitting on a gold mine.

[Over Yonder]

People used to kill for those things. There was a high demand and price. Good luck. post a pic when you get a chance.

I do have a couple of pics on my phone. But I cant get them to upload to my computer. I am an old goat, no smart phone. Still use an old flip phone:(

[displacedinMN]

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=glass%20insulators&sort=rel

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/clt/5986677484.html

Anywhere from 3 to 60 bucks.

[Dave Lane]

I have dozens of them I put on top of my fenceposts at my farm just for decorative purposes. They aren't worth anything. Maybe a $1 each if you can find someone that wants them. There are rare varieties but the reason they are rare is because there aren't any of them.

[stumppy]

I have dozens of them I put on top of my fenceposts at my farm just for decorative purposes. They aren't worth anything. Maybe a $1 each if you can find someone that wants them. There are rare varieties but the reason they are rare is because there aren't any of them.

I just wish I had $1 for every one of them I shot up as a kid.

[oldman]

I'll bet they are worth something more than $1 a piece. If you want to go to the trouble, you can hit a swap meet and see just what they would bring. The old Boulevard Drive-In in KCK has a meet every weekend. I don't know what it costs to set up a table now, but my friend used to do it a few years back and it was around $10 per day.

[Dave Lane]

If you do any good with them let me know. Theres still a few hundred across the street I could get for you. And mine are all blue which is the most popular color.

[listopencil]

I used to use them for BB gun target practice as a kid. They made such a satisfying sound when you'd hit one on the pole.

[stumppy]

I used to use them for BB gun target practice as a kid. They made such a satisfying sound when you'd hit one on the pole.

Pump the ol' Sheridan up 8 times and they made a nice shattering sound.

[patteeu]

There are rare varieties but the reason they are rare is because there aren't any of them.

LMAO Thanks for the info. :p

[Over Yonder]

I have dozens of them I put on top of my fenceposts at my farm just for decorative purposes. They aren't worth anything. Maybe a $1 each if you can find someone that wants them. There are rare varieties but the reason they are rare is because there aren't any of them.

I'm guessing neither of these types are rare. If they were, I could un-rare them in an afternoon of gathering. lol

I was mostly wondering if anybody knew how to look them up by the code in the glass. Worth is kinda secondary here. I'm really mostly interested in why so damn many ended up in this spot. It's pretty obvious they were dumped. But what year, what manufacturer and so on. This kinda thing interests the crap outta me. I guess I have a mental problem :(

[Over Yonder]

I just wish I had $1 for every one of them I shot up as a kid.

I used to use them for BB gun target practice as a kid. They made such a satisfying sound when you'd hit one on the pole.

Pump the ol' Sheridan up 8 times and they made a nice shattering sound.

Yea, I shot up a couple back in the day as well:thumb:

[Buehler445]

I'm guessing neither of these types are rare. If they were, I could un-rare them in an afternoon of gathering. lol

I was mostly wondering if anybody knew how to look them up by the code in the glass. Worth is kinda secondary here. I'm really mostly interested in why so damn many ended up in this spot. It's pretty obvious they were dumped. But what year, what manufacturer and so on. This kinda thing interests the crap outta me. I guess I have a mental problem :(

ROFL.

We took down all the poles on a railroad right away so we could now it because the trains kept burning it down. We ended up with a couple trailer loads of them.

I'd guess something similar happened.

[Valiant]

I would look for people that do country artwork and see if they want to buy some.

[rockymtnchief]

I'm guessing neither of these types are rare. If they were, I could un-rare them in an afternoon of gathering. lol

I was mostly wondering if anybody knew how to look them up by the code in the glass. Worth is kinda secondary here. I'm really mostly interested in why so damn many ended up in this spot. It's pretty obvious they were dumped. But what year, what manufacturer and so on. This kinda thing interests the crap outta me. I guess I have a mental problem :(
My neighbor collects them and has a detailed book on them that is pretty thick. I think he said he got it on Amazon.

I bet I had a hundred of them back in the day when I would work open wire and then later wrecked out open wire. All but three met their fate with high speed projectiles.

[Iowanian]

I trade a lot of old stuff. They're worth at least $2-3 each

Women make candle holders and slot of other things from them.

[oldman]

If you're just looking for information, you might get what you want here: https://www.glassbottlemarks.com/glass-insulator-manufacturers/

[Dave Lane]

ROFL.

We took down all the poles on a railroad right away so we could now it because the trains kept burning it down. We ended up with a couple trailer loads of them.

I'd guess something similar happened.

Yeah there's a big pile of timbers cross members with insulators on them and some monster rolled up wire sitting across the street. The place is close to the train tracks mine looks like they haven't been there that long. I took a couple of dozen to put on the barb wire fence posts. They fit nicely and are fun to look at

[Reerun_KC]

ROFL.

We took down all the poles on a railroad right away so we could now it because the trains kept burning it down. We ended up with a couple trailer loads of them.

I'd guess something similar happened.

We picked off all the good ones before you guys got rid of them. Wife has them in the house as decorations.

[Buehler445]

We picked off all the good ones before you guys got rid of them. Wife has them in the house as decorations.

Nah I took this set down in high school.

[Reerun_KC]

Nah I took this set down in high school.

Ah okay. We picked those off the rail tracks about 8 years ago.