Rare is the insulator collector who is content with the number of insulators
he/she has today. Almost all of us want to add to our collections. There are
various ways to do this: antique shops, insulator club meetings, flea markets,
yard sales, eBay, walking railroad lines, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.
I
have found another method that has been successful for me. Some of you may have
heard of the Farmer s Market Bulletin. It is a weekly or twice-monthly paper,
published by the state Dept. of Agriculture, which is comprised almost entirely
of advertisements for farm-related items. Most of the advertisers are, not
surprisingly, farmers, and they place ads wishing to sell and buy various items,
ranging from tractors and plows to vegetables and other crops to livestock and
Christmas trees. There is also a section for miscellaneous items that do not fit
into one of the major categories.
In the early 1990's, while my wife Zandra and
I still lived in Georgia, I placed an ad in the Miscellaneous section of the
Georgia Farmer s Market Bulletin, stating that I wanted to buy glass telephone
and telegraph insulators. The ad included my name, address, and phone number.
Over the next couple of months I had more than 80 responses to the ad, from
people all over the state, saying that they had insulators for sale. I contacted
these people and tried to determine what they had, how many they had, where they
got them, etc. I listed all this information, along with their names, phone
numbers, and locations.
I then marked the locations on a map of the state, and
when I got 5 or 6 in the same general area, I arranged to meet them individually
on a Saturday. I would start at 9:00 a.m. or so with the first. Then go to the
next on the list and so forth, finishing up before dark in most cases.
Before we moved to South Carolina, I had visited probably 50 of the 80+
people who contacted me. Most of these people had nothing that I was interested
in. We're talking about Hemingray 42's, B beehives, and similar very common
insulators that the average collector doesn't want.
On the other hand, I added
quite a few relatively uncommon insulators to my collection or to my sales
stock. For example, I once found 24 purple Whitall Tatums and bought them for
$100. We all know that the price guide value for these insulators is
considerably more than what I paid for them.
I looked upon this method of
hunting insulators as similar to walking a rail line. Except you don't have to
dive in the bushes when the train comes by. In both methods, you spend a lot of
time looking, and what you do find is mostly worthless. But you do occasionally
find something worthwhile, and even if you don't find that purple threadless,
the thrill of the hunt makes it worthwhile.
I never did have time to visit
everyone in Georgia who responded to my ad. Some were just too far away from our
home. So, there are undoubtedly still insulators out there somewhere in the
state.
We now live in South Carolina, and for the first couple of years that we
lived here I abandoned this type of insulator hunting. Then last year I sent in
a similar ad to the South Carolina Farmer s Market Bulletin. And now, here we go
again!
So far, I've gotten 37 responses to my ad. I have visited 12 of these
people, and have bought insulators from 3 of them. I've brought home over 1000
insulators in the last couple of months. Zandra says I have "an obsessive
compulsive desire to own every insulator in the world". I wouldn't go quite
that far, although I do have them spread all over our yard and house.
Most of
the people from whom I have bought this way will not let me "cherry
pick", or buy only what I want. They want to get rid of all of them. So
most of what I have bought is common junk. However, the good more than makes up for the bad. I have again
added several to my collection, the value of which far outweighs what I paid for
all of the insulators.
The only downside is what do I do with several hundred
common insulators that are virtually worthless to collectors? I have sold some
in antique shops, of which there are several in Walhalla, where we live. For
example, I have about 40 of the CD 106 Hemingrays with the May 2, 1893 patent
date. Now, we collectors know these insulators are valued at less than a dollar,
but they sell very well in antique shops for $4. And what do I do with the 75 or
so Am. Tel. & Tel. Co. CD 121's and all the other common insulators that I
have accumulated? This can be a problem, unless you have a very understanding
spouse, like I do!
On the plus side, in addition to the insulators, I have met
some very nice people. Almost without exception, they have graciously received
me, and invited me to "talk insulators" with them. I have thoroughly
enjoyed the whole experience.
I would recommend that you consider this method of
insulator hunting. Since both Georgia and South Carolina have these market
bulletins, I would think other states have them, also. Subscriptions and ads are
free, so what have you got to lose?
I am convinced that there are many valuable
insulators sitting in an old barn behind some farmer's house, that were picked
off the railroad line by his grandfather. I'm looking for these insulators in
South Carolina. You might as well look for them in your state. Even if you don't
find anything super valuable, you will at least be enjoying our hobby. Good
hunting!
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Ed submitted this article which he wrote and had published in the newsletter
of the Dixie Jewels Insulator Club.
