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  Why I Like Australian Glass Insulators

I have been actively collecting glass and non-glass insulators from Australia for about the past four years. My collection currently contains about 75 glass insulators and 10 non-glass pieces from there. My first Australian insulator was a CD 121 No Embossing AGEE in green. The collection has grown from there. Click here to open up the Australian Collection page.

The Australian glass insulators appeal to me for three main reasons:

Colour
I can afford to buy fancy coloured glass from Australia that I could never afford in North American pieces. I have all kinds of purples, ambers, and greens from Australia that would cost hundreds of dollars to try and match in any style of North American glass. Also, colours like aqua and straw are the uncommon ones exactly opposite the North American pieces. A good example of the colour range, would be the picture of all my CD 422s CD 422 AGEE Colour Shot. There are four shades of purple, three shades of green, several grays, plus clear and straw in the group. The entire group probably cost me less than $150. Try to get just one good purple Hemingray for that price!

Style
There is a much smaller group of Australian styles, therefore it is "almost" possible to get all of the CDs, embossings and colours. Just like in North America, there are a few rare and uncommon pieces, but the majority of Aussie pieces are available for sale at least once in a while. The shapes of many of the Aussie pieces are dramatically different than those from North America. This (along with the colour) gives them a distinct visual appeal on the shelf.

Condition
The condition of these pieces is usually quite good too. A lot of the more desirable coloured North American pieces often have significant damage on them, and still command a premium price.

Over the past couple of years I have managed to trim my Aussie Want List down by a few items, but now I have reached the stage of only needing the more uncommon style/colour/embossing combinations. It gets harder and harder to try and find anything Australian to buy that I don't already have. Also, it is difficult to try to add subtle colour variations into my lineup, when I can only see insulators via digital photos. We all know how much the true colour of an insulator can vary from different people's photos.

I did recently acquire a nice CD 490 Type II in an unlisted grey-green colour. I have several of the scarcer styles as well, including the CD 490 Type I with the 4 SDP, the CD 154 AGEE/S in purple, the CD 422 AGEE and 422 CCG in clear. It took me over two years, but I finally have all six of the colours/shades that the CD 590 AGMs come in. I have a couple of the scarce shades in the CD 121 unembossed lineup, including dark amber, rose tint, and bubbly clear. I even managed to buy the rare CD 423 AGM / SUB embossed piece on eBay a while back, for a mere $10 US.

As the title of this page says, I like "glass" insulators. Porcelain insulators don't do a thing for me. I have a few select porcelain pieces in a box at home, but I only keep them because they have interesting colour glazes or are particularly interesting styles. A shelf full of "white" porcelain pieces is as dull to me as my shelf full of "aqua" North American glass.

I have a sub-specialty collection of non-glass/non-porcelain insulators Non-Glass Group Shot. These include pieces made from wood, rubber, plastic, bakelite, metal, and composition. I have samples of most of the Australian pieces that fit into this category.


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