Unusual Small Insulator

[Bixby Bill]

Here`s a small one I just picked up, and I can`t find anything out about it. It`s very crude, is 2 1/8" tall, has a hole going through the side, a V-groove on the top, and an indentation on the base where it may have been on the end of a post and then tied down. I think it may be an early telegraph insulator, but I really don`t know. Can anyone tell me how old it is and what it may have been used as?

 

[Bixby Bill]

Side view.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Top view.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Bottom view.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Nice view showing the crudity of it with all the swirls in the glass.

 

[sparrow75]

It's a lighting rod insulator. I can't give you much more info than that, but I'd imagine someone else will fill in more details for you.

 

[cowseatmaize]

Can't say how old but I think it's for lightning rod wires.

Edit, missed it by that much.[]

 

[RED Matthews]

Well Gill I think it is a stand off for lightning rod grounding cables. These were nailed down the sides and ends of buildings where the cable was going to a planted ground plate.
I know I have three similar ones on my barn which has only one lightning rod on the chimney to my metal forge and anvil set-up.
Any one near Watkins Glen, NY - that wants to get into blacksmith work - should contact me because the forging set up is for sale. RED Matthews

 

[cowseatmaize]

Like this Red?

 

[LC]

These are quite common in my area , but I always thought they were neat because of their small size . I used to have quite a few of them , but I no longer have one as insulators are not all that much to my liking . I do still have a milk crate full of the larger insulators that have been sitting in the building for year . I think they are all common except for a couple of them .