FREE: Old railroad glass

Helo Luon! this is a Electric cable INSULATOR and you are right,they were most commomly found on,above or around old railroad tracks. They also carried our original electric current back in the very late and early 19th and 20th centuries,the one you have pictured is a VERY nice specimen and would proberbly retail in an antiques shop for about $40!
i wish you luck with it, not easy to find unchipped and uncracked as this seems to be?
joe

There Is a couple of chips near bottom but it's pretty good shape. And thanks for telling me about it. Now I think I remember seeing them !!

Your very welcome! Yes many of us remember playing near old rail sidings and remember seeing (Usually the old brown ones,made of pottery/porcelain) these type things lying along the old unused rails,mostly broken and forgotten.

Yep. Insulator. And if you find the antique dealer that pays $40 for these let me know! ($6-8 is more realistic) Very nice piece! The older the rarer. If you find ones without the threads in them they're very old. This one being tapered without the ring around the top crown makes it somewhat rarer, and the green colored are more desirable than clear. If you find an unthreaded earthenware one (like the brown glazed milk/creamer set EVERYONE had in the 70s) you've hit the jackpot...then you might be looking at $40. Of course, it all depends where in the country you're located. Here in New England these are a lot easier to find, since every house with electrical service between 1880-1950 had this/similar style for their electric service in, and of course telephone/telegraph lines. (look up at the side of your pre-1950 construction and you may see this!) In the "younger" parts of the country they may be worth more. Typically I say $2-10 in general in Maine/Massachusetts, with $4 being the average sale of a typical insulator.

They make great doorstoppers! (: f/w

I have a box of them in our museum that I discovered that the former gift shop person were selling for .75 cents. on eBay I am selling them for $5.00. I saw one last week sell for over 600.00, but is was from Montreal.