From Brass Armadillo Employee Christina Errington,

(This is my first blog ever, it was originally posted on www.iantique.com) 

Insulators, what are they, what were they used for, what were they made of, and are they of any value?

Glass insulators were first produced in the 1850's for use with telegraph lines. As technology developed insulators were needed for telephone lines, electric power lines, and other applications such as railroad signals. In the mid 1960's a few people began collecting these antique insulators. Today there are over 2000 collectors. Production for porcelain insulators started in the 1850’s and 60’s. Porcelain insulators were more commonly used for power distribution due to their greater strength and surface resistance; by 1915 they basically replaced all glass insulators on electrical lines. Popularity has increased for porcelain insulators over the past ten years thanks to the rise in glass prices, earlier ‘classic’ porcelain being taken out of service as utility distribution voltage increases and the increase of available information on the web and in books.

Sales of vintage clothing is one of the hotest selling categories. Vinyl records have always been collected because of their sound quality. Now we have a dealer that has bridged the two. Imagine sitting back in your vintage Rock N Roll T-shirt listening to your favorite Stone's album. Assume !!!! Dim lights

Every Tuesday morning someone will ask me about Monday nights episode of American Pickers. Many questions come from people who have never really been around antiques. My initial concern with the program was that the "stars" would come across as con artist taking advantage of people, but this is not the case. People under the age of 30 contact me almost daily wanting to know how to get started in the business because of this show. So in that respect I feel the show has done great things to bring a new demographic to the antique business.