In a message dated 8/8/2007 9:25:31 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I've  seen 10s-of-thousands of glass telegraph insulators in dozens of US  
collections, and yet to see a red one. I suspect this is a techno-myth. To  
produce red glass (in the era when telegraph wires were being strung)  
required the use of prohibitively expensive gold compounds. This would be  
highly impractical for such utilitarian objects. Barring some compelling  
reason to produce them (perhaps as trap-bait for aborigines and Apaches?),  
it would be quite a bizarre economic aberration. As anyone knows who's  ever 
worked with the restoration of stained glass work, the genuine  antique red 
glass is ... by far ... the most expensive color to  aquire.

~Bob Skiles


Several are illustrated  here... 

    
_http://cjow.com/archive/article.php?month=2&a=02Seeing%20Red.htm&year=2004_ 
(http://cjow.com/archive/article.php?month=2&a=02Seeing%20Red.htm&year=2004) 
Seeing Red
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the  Wire", February 2004, page 16 
For Valentine's, Crown Jewels presents "red"  insulators found in the hobby. 
The idea of a red glass insulator has captured  the thoughts of collectors 
since the hobby began. When I was collecting in  the 1960's, collectors wondered 
if a red insulator would ever be found.  Even today, if you talk to 
non-collectors at flea markets and antique  shops, they'll relate stories of red glass 
insulators being found...  usually... at some remote, far away place.  
Were genuine insulators ever made in red glass?  In a 1909 catalog, Hemingray 
advertised "special colored glass  insulators". The ad reads, "Where several 
lines of different companies are  on the same cross arm, the lineman can 
distinguish his line by the color  of the insulator. Different currents can also be 
designated by different  colored insulators. We are prepared to furnish all 
styles of insulators in  RED, blue, and amber glass..." (emphasis added). The 
advertisement  went on to say that there was an extra charge of $8.00 per 
thousand for  insulators made in colored  glass.¹ 



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