Ted's Top Ten Tips
For New Insulator Collectors
Written by W. H. (Ted) Ingram
The "Ten Tips" listed below are suggestions for new insulator collectors,
based upon my own experiences. Some of them could have a whole page devoted to them, but
rather than do that, I have attempted to be brief and give you just enough to convey the
idea. The Case Study is factual, and serves to illustrate the importance of some of my
advice.
Case Study:
Several years ago I noticed a classified advertisement in my local newspaper about an
insulator collection for sale. I contacted the seller on the telephone, and made
arrangements to see him and his collection. My goal was to buy the collection if it was a
decent one, as I was a relatively new collector at the time, anxious to expand my own
collection. The below are the salient details of my visit and observations:
- the collection consisted of about 75 cheap and common glass insulators, in clear and
aqua colors;
- many of the insulators were so damaged that I would have thrown them away;
- most of the insulators had been purchased from antique shops;
- the seller knew no other insulator collectors, and was not aware that insulator
collecting was an organized hobby with clubs, a Web page, reference books,
terminology, identification systems, etc.;
- the seller was not aware that insulators came in colors other than what he had in
his collection – the honey amber Dominion CD 154 that I brought with me was a marvel
to him;
- his asking price for the collection was $500 which is what he said they had cost
him, but the Price Guide value would have been about $50-100 if they had all been in
good physical condition;
- there was nothing in his collection that I wanted – those that I didn’t already
own were too damaged to be collectible.
My impression was that the seller needed to sell his collection because he and his wife
had recently purchased a new house, and needed the money to finish the yard –
landscaping, fences, etc. Although he was personable, I tactfully declined to buy the
collection. About six weeks later I was again reading the classified ads, looking for
insulators to buy. I saw an interesting ad and called the phone number in it. It turned
out to be the same seller – I hadn’t recognized his phone number, and he still hadn’t
sold his collection.
1) Get A Mentor
New collectors should try to find a more experienced collector, and then use that
collector as a mentor. Most of us are flattered by someone asking questions about a
subject that we know something about. Don’t be bashful about telephoning a collector and
inviting yourself over after you’ve explained that you’re a new collector -- insulator
collectors are some of the most friendly and generous people that you’ll ever meet.
Preferably, your mentor should be a local collector so that the two of you can
occasionally visit each other. The experienced collector can offer advice in the form of
education, and advice about what pitfalls to avoid. When I was a new collector, I was
fortunate to have several established collectors to buy insulators from at attractive
prices, to volunteer general information and advice, and to answer questions.
Secondly, insulator collectors are almost always pleased to have someone take an
interest in their hobby – few people do, including their ‘significant others’.
Therefore do not be surprised if your potential mentor wants to show his/her collection to
you – use the opportunity to ask questions and acquire knowledge about insulator
collecting. Pick the brains of the collector, with the goal of learning as much about
insulator collecting as he/she does. And remember that ‘no question is a stupid question’,
and ‘if you ain’t asking, you ain’t learning’.
2) Buy the Reference Books
Insulator collecting is a highly organized and detailed hobby, with its own
terminology, identification systems, price guides, history and practices. Therefore you
must possess a certain amount of knowledge for you to know what it is that you’re
collecting, to assist you in collecting, and to communicate knowledgeably with other
collectors. To be able to do that, you have to acquire the reference
books applicable to that portion of insulator collecting (glass or porcelain) that you’re
interested in. You’ll find that after a short period they’ve become invaluable tools
that have paid for themselves. Some common examples illustrate why you need the reference
books:
- Another collector phones or emails you and says that he/she has a CD 102 for trade
– the reference books will tell you that a CD number applies only to glass
insulators, and what shape/design/style and size a CD 102 insulator is;
- You’re in an antique store and see an attractive insulator for $20 – the price
guide will tell you if that price is reasonable or not;
- You see an attractive red colored insulator for sale on eBay – the reference books
will tell you that there is no such thing as an authentic red insulator, so the eBay
insulator is probably an altered one.
3) Buy Wisely
Regard your collection as an asset that will appreciate in value over time. Whether
insulators will appreciate in value and be investments is debatable, and I’m not
suggesting that will happen – I honestly don’t know. But you should acquire insulators
with the view that you may want to sell or trade them in the future, and hopefully recover
most of your acquisition costs if you do. Therefore buy the best insulators that your
budget can afford, particularly with respect to their physical condition. Most insulator
are not ‘mint’ and we all have to have some damaged insulators in our collections
(e.g. I have yet to see a CD 196 insulator for sale/trade that was in good physical
condition). But establish a standard of acceptable physical condition for your collection
and budget, and then stick with it. Many collectors will buy damaged insulators and then
‘upgrade’ them in the future when the opportunity arises. If you do the same, pay a
price for that first insulator that is commensurate with the damages.
With the recent parcel rate increases by the American and Canadian post offices,
shipping costs are becoming a significant portion of insulator acquisition costs. Because
insulator collectors reside all over North America, with a few overseas, insulator
acquisition frequently requires that they be sent by mail or commercial courier. When you’re
buying or trading for insulators that have to be shipped to you, keep in mind that the
first one in a parcel is the most expensive to ship, and the last one is the cheapest.
This is because of the way that the parcel rates are structured – the last weight
increment is the cheapest. While this may sound like common knowledge, I still come across
collectors who buy one or two cheap insulators at a time, and then have the postage to
send them equal or surpass their value. This is important, because the convention is that
the buyer pays for the shipping costs. I recently quoted a collector $4.48 for postage
costs to send the one small insulator that he was interested in. But to send him a parcel
of four insulators, the postage costs were only $7.82 – obviously ‘more is better’
to lower average shipping costs.
Therefore if you’re acquiring insulators where you have to pay the shipping costs,
buy a sufficient quantity to minimize your average shipping costs. To do that, try to
patronize those sellers that are selling at least a couple of insulators that you want to
acquire – try to get the biggest bang for your shipping dollar. Avoid buying from
sellers that only have one insulator of interest to you. Of course, there will be times
when that is not always possible because other considerations will over-ride the
economics. An example might be that you’ve finally found a scarce insulator that has
been difficult to acquire in the past, and it could be a long time before it becomes
available again.
4) Specialize
The current price guide for North American glass insulators cites over 9,000 different
insulators – different because of the different combinations of CD numbers, colors,
primary embossings, and specific embossings. Granted, the differences between some are
subtle (e.g. the difference between two specific embossings might only be one having
periods after abbreviations, and the other one doesn’t). But if we include the
differences that the price guide doesn’t address, such as the different variations in
the color ‘aqua’, then the number becomes larger. And then if we include foreign glass
insulators, porcelain insulators, and insulator related items (radio strains, guy wire
strains, dead-end spools, knobs, etc.) we’ve got a huge number that is not yet known.
My point here is that no collector has the time and money to acquire all insulators,
and the space to display or store them. Therefore I suggest that after you’ve acquired
enough information about insulators to know roughly what there is out there to collect,
start to consider specializing. There are many ways to specialize, so I won’t get into
them in this brief article – just establish some collecting criteria once you know what
appeals to you the most. Not all collectors specialize – many just acquire insulators
that appeal to them, and there’s nothing wrong with that – instead of a collection
that has a theme, their collections are eclectic. But the advantage of specializing is
that it functions as a screening process for insulators that are outside of your
collecting criteria. There is no shortage of insulators to acquire, and it’s tempting to
acquire many of them -- but if they are not within your specialty, resist temptation and
use your money or traders to acquire those that are.
5) Stay in Touch
It is important that you communicate with other insulator collectors. I have met a few
insulator collectors who have been collecting in isolation, and it’s been a frustrating
experience for both of us. From my perspective, they have no knowledge about the hobby --
supply sources, contacts, new developments, current prices, and terminology. The above
Case Study is about such a collector. The advantages of communicating with other
collectors are the following:
- Contacts for selling, buying and/or trading to enhance your collection;
- Keeping abreast of current market prices;
- Expanding your knowledge of the hobby and learning of new developments;
- Moral support in your hobby/interest;
- Once you’ve become an established and knowledgeable collector, the hobby can
benefit from your contributions.
You can be part of the insulator collecting community by any one of the following:
6) Catalog Your Collection
When I was a new collector there were several occasions when I purchased insulators
from antique shops and flea markets, only to find out later that they were duplicates of
what I already owned – I couldn’t remember what I already had in my collection. I then
made a computerized inventory of my collection, and took a hard copy of it whenever I knew
that I would be insulator shopping. I won’t go into a lot of details, because there is
an excellent article written by Bill Meier about cataloging
your insulator collection. If you don’t have a personal computer, you can still
catalog your collection the old fashioned way – I recommend using a columnar pad
purchased from a stationary store.
I strongly recommend an inventory if your collection is 100 or more insulators. My own
inventory consists of one spreadsheet for each of my 14 ‘sub-collections’, the total
of all of them being about 1100 insulators. At a glance, I can determine if I already own
a certain insulator when I see a similar one for sale, and if I do, whether I need an
upgrade for it or not. I also compare the total acquisition costs of my collection to the
total Price Guide values to determine if my total acquisition costs are reasonable or not.
Besides allowing you to know what your collection consists of, an inventory is also
advisable for insurance purposes. As an example, if your collection eventually grew to be
worth $5,000 (very easy to do) and you then had a house fire or vandalism, the inventory
would be invaluable in helping you file an insurance claim. For that reason, you should
keep a recent copy of your inventory with your other valuable papers in your safety
deposit box.
7) Stay Within Your Budget
Like so many other items and activities, the sky’s the limit with respect to the
amount of money that can be spent on insulators – prices range from free to thousands of
dollars. Therefore it is important that you establish financial limits that are reasonable
for your disposable income, and then stay within those guidelines. Ask yourself if your
insulator collecting costs are in addition to, or in place of your other recreational
expenses. If the costs are in addition to your current hobby and recreational expenses,
can you afford insulators?
I am aware of a few collectors that became so enthusiastic about insulator collecting
that they forgot about financial common sense, and eventually suffered the consequences.
You don’t have to be rich to be an insulator collector – most insulators are priced
below $20, and it is possible to build a very respectable collection on a limited budget
over time. Trading with other collectors, and buying from flea markets, garage sales and
second hand stores will also reduce your cash outlay. Remember that insulator collecting
is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby, and not the cause of financial stress.
8) Beware of Antique Stores
Most antique stores/shops have a few insulators for sale, and a lot of insulators are
actually ‘antiques’ by virtue of being over 100 years old (although many antique
dealers have a much more liberal definition of that term). In my area, it is not uncommon
to find a $0.50 insulator with a $10.00 or more price tag on it – and it is frequently
so damaged that I would throw it away. To be fair to those antique dealers, they have
overhead costs that they have to recover, whereas the suggested prices in the price guides
are for transactions between collectors who do not have the same costs.
Antique dealers know very little about insulators, nor can they be expected to –
their inventory is too vast for them to concentrate on every type of antique. Therefore
antique dealers know a little bit about a lot of antiques, but their depth of knowledge
about any one of them is very superficial. So beware of misinformation from them – I
once had an antique dealer tell me that a Dominion CD 154 was made in 1942 because the
embossing said ‘DOMINION - 42’. Because insulators are not a big money maker for them,
antique dealers don’t spend the time to learn more about them – it just wouldn’t be
cost effective. For that reason, occasional bargains can be found in antique stores if you
know your insulators and prices well enough – the antique dealer’s price is low
relative to that suggested by the price guide.
9) Get Approval From Your Significant Other
This tip was suggested by my wife, and after thinking about it, it’s excellent
advice. If you have a ‘significant other’ in your life, it’s important that approval
for your insulator collecting be given by that person. And the more serious you are about
insulator collecting and the more resources that you give to it, the more important that
approval becomes. When I initially informed my wife that I was going to collect
insulators, she thought that I was joking. And then she started to resent my hobby because
of the amount of time that I was devoting to it, and not to activities that the two of us
could be doing together. We ended up having many ‘discussions’ about my hobby. And I
had to buy a second personal computer for her to use because I was monopolizing our first
one, doing insulator related things with it.
Insulator collecting requires time, money and space – not just to acquire and display
your insulators, but for related items and activities as well (e.g. reference books,
attending swap meets). Therefore make sure that your significant other is in agreement
with your hobby -- involve him/her if they’re willing to participate. But don’t let
insulator collecting become a source of friction between the two of you – it’s
supposed to be a stress reducing hobby!
10) Use a Personal Computer
I have a hard time visualizing insulator collecting prior to personal computers – I
know that it was done, but it must have been very time consuming, expensive and laborious.
If you don’t already own a personal computer, then insulator collecting is another
reason to get one. And if you already have a personal computer, which you probably do if
you’re reading this, then use it as tool to assist you with your collection.
I have already mentioned
Bill Meier's
article
about using a computer to catalog your collection. Another major computer use is email
communication with other collectors. Prior to getting email capability, my long distance
telephone costs were frequently in excess of $100 per month because of calls to other
collectors. Now I rarely call anyone long distance, and then only if I’m calling a
person that doesn’t have an email address. I buy, sell and trade insulators by email and
the Internet. I subscribe to the ICON email news/chat line, and
periodically visit the Glass and Porcelain Insulator Web Site and its
links to see what’s new in the hobby. Other insulator related uses for my computer are
correspondence, making parcel shipping labels, record keeping and digital photography.
Last updated Thursday, February 4, 1999
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