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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Collecting threadless insulators   List Tom Iannelli Next   Collecting Threadless Porcelain Insulators (1840 - 1870)   By Tom Iannelli Sooner or later, every Canadian puts a glass telegraph line insulator on display in their homes, usually in a window, to catch the light.   Be it a Dominion-42, a Brookfield or a Hemingray-42, glass insulators made in Canada and the United States between the 1840s and 1960s are a popular collectible.   They are also important in the history of communications, having been used to carry signals across the thousands of miles of telegraph lines in the two countries.   In previous articles, I described glass gems, particularly the earliest insulators. After the invention of the telegraph, there was a need to conduct the telegraph signal across large distances without the signal "shorting out" or simply "grounding". Hence, glass insulators in their most primitive form were invented.   These early insulators had a smooth interior (threadless) and were basically glued to a pin, a very ineffective design. In 1868, a "threaded" insulator with pin and pinhole was invented aand they efficiently held in place on telegraph poles.   Look again at your Dominion-42 and you will see the interior of the insulator is "threaded."   For every 100 collectors of glass insulators, there is probably one collector of porcelain insulators. The reason is simple - they don't look that great in a window. Solid porcelain insulators do not pass light, and yet they have a history stretching back to the 1840s as well.   Porcelain insulators are still in use everywhere in Canada. In fact, high voltage lines, until recently, were exclusively carried on porcelain as its insulating ability and resistance to damage are superior to glass.   In the 1840s, it wasn't clear which type of insulator would be king. For many types of early threadless glass insulators, there is a porcelain counterpart.   Porcelain insulators were made in two different ways. Early crude pieces were made "dry," meaning the dry porcelain was pressed under pressure into molds.   A better product was soon designed which saw the crude materials shaped into molds while still wet. This product was dried and then usually glazed for a better, more durable finish.   The problem with both of these early porcelain processes is that the insulators were all exclusively white, or varying shades of dirty brown. They do not come in a dizzying spectrum of colours like their glass counterparts, hence the general lack of appeal to many collectors.   Porcelain insulators are described by something called a "U" number, or "Unipart" number. This is an arbitrary classification system allowing collectors to communicate with each other. Some of the interesting early porcelain threadless insulators follow.   U-970: Nick-named the porcelain "egg" and manufactured for, and used exclusively by, the American Confederate Army during the Civil War. This was a durable design and they mimic their glass counterpart. The photo shows the porcelain threadless design beside its much larger and heavier big brother, made out of glass. (Value approximately $300)   U-988: The "slashtop" is another threadless porcelain insulator used by the American Confederate forces during the Civil War. It is delicate and tiny and was designed for quick installation of the telegraph wire at the top of the insulator. It is a rare find. Only about 24 are known to exist. (Value approximately $1,500)   U-990: Called "teapots" for an obvious reason. These pieces were made by several different companies in the United States and were initially made for the southern forces of the Civil War, although I believe their usage spread to both sides of that conflict. While not incredibly rare, it is hard to find one in mint condition. Most have had their "spouts" broken off and re-attached, including the one in my collection. (Value approximately $300)   U-981: A "monster" of a threadless insulator, one of great mass and durability. They were used on both sides of the border and many examples have been found in Nova Scotia. They are nicknamed the "Elliot Hat." A variant of this piece is U-980, the "Horned Elliot." Both pieces are attributed to their designer, E.B. Elliott, the insulator designer, not the writer. (Values approximately $200-$250 respectively)   One of the most interesting of the early porcelain insulators does not bear a U-number at all, as it is not a pin-type insulator. These are the porcelain blocks. These crude, early insulators were made by fusing two or three individual pieces into a simple block. which had a channel in the middle of the insulator, designed, theoretically, to keep the telegraph line in place.   Many of these early pieces were made by an American company "employing" slaves and the pieces bear symbols from the slaves. These pieces often had "x" or "/" marks pressed into the wet product prior to the insulator being fired, making the "slave mark" permanent. These early insulators failed quickly and were soon replaced by pin-types already described. (Value approximately $75)   In areas where telegraph poles could not be easily erected, tree insulators were used and, not surprisingly, porcelain insulators of this design were used to compete with their glass counterparts. (Value approximately $50)   As with any collectible, the conversation soon turns to "how much are they worth?" The value of threadless porcelain insulators is driven by the same set of factors as threadless glass insulators: rarity and condition. Colour is not a factor as they only come in two colours.   Condition is important; obviously, as collectors will pay more for any collectible that is in pristine condition, versus one that has been glued together from six broken parts. Rarity is also important, as many of the early threadless porcelain insulators are incredibly rare.   Despite this, very few threadless porcelain insulators break the $1,000 mark, whereas their glass threadless counterparts range from $100 to $20,000. Why is there such a disparity?   The third defining factor in price is - demand. There simply are fewer collectors of porcelain insulators and fewer still that collect rare and early porcelain.   But there is always something more important than dollar value, as any collector knows, whether it is matchbooks, Dinky toys or oil lamps that make up your collection.   It is the joy of collecting rare and historical items that gives the collector the most satisfaction, not the "book value" of the collection.   Knowing that a piece on your shelf once carried vital battle information from the American Civil War … what price can you put on that?   Good collecting.   Photo 1: Tree insulators with porcelain on left, glass counterpart on right   Photo 2 - U-981 Elliott Hat on left, U-980 "Horned Elliott" on right   Photo 3 - U-988, the tiny "slashtop" beside an AA battery for scale :   Photo 4: U-990 The "Teapot"     Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2010 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster