So is this a pretty early insulator?

[CCB420]

Found this insulator in a box, in the grandfather in laws workshop! Been sitting on it for over a year, but just getting around to posting/asking questions! Looks very crude, with almost like a surface coating?? There is a yellowish tint, but I'm thinking it may just be dirty! So is there any value to this guy? Possible date?

 

[CanadianBottles]

Date-wise it doesn't look that early to me, the Hemingray collectors' website says that these started production around the 1880s or so and the H.G. Co. ones are the earliest: https://www.hemingray.info/database/detail.php?cd=145 The texture of the glass is strange though, I'm not sure if that was caused during manufacture or happened later on, maybe in a fire or something? Doesn't look quite right for melted glass to me though. Is that texture definitely glass or could it be something transparent which has coated it? I'm pretty sure the yellow tint is just dirt since it doesn't go all the way through the insulator. Value unfortunately looks pretty low, the ones of these that sold on Ebay don't seem to go above $10 in good condition unless they're an unusual colour.

 

[DavidW]

Hi CCB420,
That's a "beehive" style telegraph insulator. That is not the earliest type of beehive made by Hemingray. Their oldest beehives (introduced in about 1885) have the word "PETTICOAT" on the rear skirt.
That is a type that was probably started around (give or take a couple years) 1895. It was produced from about 1895 until around 1910 or so. However you have the first of several different embossing styles WITHIN THAT PARTICULAR type of beehive (NO "PETTICOAT" on reverse, and a large "H" on the top). The embossing is cruder and called "script" or "transition style"font. Later on, the beehives were embossed with "PRISM" and finally "STAMP" type embossing. If I had to narrow it down as well as I could, I'd guess 1895 to 1898 for your insulator.

It is a very common type of beehive. Although if you look closely at a lot of photos of that type of insulator on ebay, the most common style of "H. G. CO." embossing is "large prism". The weird look you see is (I believe) because the moldworkers at the Hemingray factory at Muncie didn't properly smooth down the inside surface of the steel mold before it was used. Either they were in a hurry to get the mold in use, and didn't smooth it down properly before going "online", or maybe it had already been in storage for a few weeks or months and then used again, and they didn't "clean up" the inside surface that was getting rusty. It creates a bumpy or scaly "orange peel" kind of look. I've seen this on a lot of Hemingray insulators.

The market value to serious collectors is about 2 to 4 dollars, but it is an authentic antique, easily at least 110 years old. Most commonly used on telegraph lines that paralleled railroad tracks. Ebay sellers almost always GREATLY overestimate the value on those kinds of insulators, and ask prices that are way overboard.
But if it belonged to your grandfather, to me that would give it a lot of extra special sentimental value. Value can't be measured in cold hard dollars and cents. IMHO.

 

[DavidW]

I forgot to add that is the most common color, the basic aqua (blue green). There are some H.G.CO. beehives of that particular type (H on top, no PETTICOAT on reverse) that are in a nice true green (not aqua) and they are worth more - in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 dollars if in good condition. Another color is known as "Jade Green Milk" although it is really a foggy milky cloudy aqua or greenish-aqua. That color can vary somewhat in "opacity" and usually goes for 20 to 30 dollars. A very rare color is Jade Blue Milk which is listed in the price guide at 300-350 dollars (I don't have the very latest edition, so it may be higher now).
The most valuable beehives made by Hemingray are the older ones marked "H.G.CO." on one side and "PETTICOAT" on the other. They range in many different colors - aqua is most common ( 2 to 4 dollars) but some other colors like amber, sapphire blue, purple, amber olive green, Depression glass green, and others can range up into the thousands of dollars. The rarest color in the "H.G.CO. // PETTICOAT" type is one in an opaque, WHITE milk glass!! Only one example has ever been found in that color - it was found at the bottom of a bucket of more common insulators, many years ago!

 

[CCB420]

Yea, was the wife's grandfather, who I believe retired from AT&T, but no it would've had to have been worth a lot more before she'd part with that one! That surface is what had me scratching my head, so thanks for the insight @David & @Canadian

 

[dario]

Found this insulator in a box, in the grandfather in laws workshop! Been sitting on it for over a year, but just getting around to posting/asking questions! Looks very crude, with almost like a surface coating?? There is a yellowish tint, but I'm thinking it may just be dirty! So is there any value to this guy? Possible date?View attachment 251701View attachment 251702View attachment 251703

This is one of the newer Hemingray insulators. It is a CD 145 and is fairly common. Hemingray actually made some threadless dating back to the 1850s & 1860s. One of their earlier embossings is the "PATENT DEC 19, 1871" which does appear on the threadless CD 732.4.