S.McKEE & Co Threadless Insulator CD-731

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mr2real

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I found this insulator at an antique store today. I bought because I knew that the threadless insulators are older than the threaded, and it was a great price $5. It's embossed on the front S. McKEE & Co. The insulator is chipped at all, but there is a white residue and a few small circular impact fractures that didn't chip off. I was wondering if there's an easy method for cleaning it without damaging the glass? Also, I'm curious as to rarity or value, I can't find a price online. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Joe



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mr2real

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Embossing on front- the "& Co." is very weakly embossed.


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Wheelah23

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If that is really threadless, I'd imagine you can multiply your investment by 1000... [;)] I don't know everything about insulators, but I know the threadless ones are worth an absolute ton, and are so rare that even damaged ones are worth a great deal of cash.

I found a bit of relevant info, from this site.

"Threadless glass telegraph line insulators (CD 731) marked "S.McKee & Co." were evidently produced in the Civil War period and immediately afterward (circa 1865-1875)."
 

mr2real

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Here's the white stuff on the bottom. The whole piece looks rough and I would like it to see it shine. There's not any chips, but the insulator still doesn't look to great.


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Wheelah23

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That's sickness, caused by being buried in the ground. Strangely, I am sometimes able to wipe the kind of sickness on the inside of that insulator with my fingernail... The outside is beyond hope, except for tumbling, but that inside sickness might come off.

And now I'm realizing I overshot the price on this one; I think it should still be worth considerably more than you paid for it, but not $5000, I think... [;)]

A similar (but unembossed) one, in a nice color, on eBay

According to this site... "This is one of the more common threadless styles, although still tough to find. This style was known as the "compromise" between the egg styles and hat styles that had previously been used. With the invention of threads CD 131 was made as a threaded version of this insulator."

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mr2real

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Yeah I seen the unembossed examples on eBay, not that amber one though. [:D] I was kind of thinking that site with blue example was referring to the unembossed examples as being "one of the more common threadless styles". I can't find any references to a price for an embossed example. I appreciate your help.
 

Bixel

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Lists in the 2011 price guide at $400-$500 dollars..... but in that condition it would probably be worth more like 250-300 or so.
 

carobran

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lime-away sometimes takes that inside sickness off,maybe not all,but some[:)]
 

mr2real

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That's great news!!! Is the BV for an unembossed CD-731 or embossed? Or does that even matter?

The reason I'm asking is because I seen this website ( http://www.insulators.info/articles/fruitref.htm#McKEE ) that states "There are many non-embossed CD-731 types attributed to S. McKEE but only a few have been found with the embossing."
 

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