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Date: | Wed, 8 Aug 2007 09:31:01 EDT |
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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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