Sluggo's Insulator Collecting - Featured Insulator: CD 430

Featured Insulator: CD 430 CCG and AGM - from Australia

Photos

An earlier failed design for a 'Trunk' insulator - the CD 432

Story - History

This is the last segment to cover the Australian glass insulators. We have worked through the other styles and all the various ponies or 'subs'. The CD 430 was the designated 'trunk' insulator from CCG in 1942, and continued with AGM from 1951 until they ceased production in 1962. Trivia Note: I have a CD 430 AGM marked with the 1962 date code.

The CD 430 is threaded for a standard metric pin common to most Aussie insulators, and the tall, straight skirt gave an exceptionally long leakage path to ground. It was a single skirt design with a single side wire groove. This design was quite successful, as evidenced by the continued production of them for 20 years. The colours of these pieces tend to be lighter then the earlier Aussie styles, as would be expected, since we are talking about glass production from the 1940's when clear glass was pretty much the standard everywhere. This insulator has been nicknamed the "Baby Bottle" in reference to its shape.

In 1938 AGEE (Australian Glass Manufacturer) produced some design samples of a glass insulator to be tried in tests against three porcelain designs to determine a new standard 'trunk' insulator. This design was the CD 432. I proved to be a very poor design and many broke on the poles in only four months of testing. It is believed that there are only three surviving examples of this style. (See photo left above)

More Photos

Embossing, Colours and Price Guide Listing

There are a wide variety of colours found in the CD 430s, however, most are fairly light. There are some nice amethysts and ambers available, particularly with the CCG embossing.

The CD 430 CCG colours include clear, straw, peach, rose, light green, a couple of shades of amber, and three shades of amethyst. The only "wango-tango" colour for this style seems to be the chartreuse, which is rarely seen.

The CD 430 AGM colours are even lighter and more subtle that the 430 CCGs. They range from clear, straw, to peach, and through various light greens. The pictures above show most of the colours I have for this style so far.

There are a couple of embossing variations listed in the price guide for this CD, but they are not scarce enough to gain any significant book value.

CD 430 {F-Skirt} C.C.G. / (Mold Number on most units) {R-Skirt} (Date Code) SB
- Clear, Straw, Green Tint, Light Green, Light Peach, Rose Tint $5-10 US
- Bubbly Clear, Gray, Dark Peach, Dark Amber $10-15 US
- Light Amethyst, Amethyst, Dark Amethyst, Amber $15-20 US
- Chartreuse $20-30 US
CD 430 {F-Skirt} A.G.M. / (Mold Number) {R-Skirt} (Date Code) SB
- Straw, Light Peach, Light Green, Light Yellow Green, Light Olive Green $5-10 US
CD 430{F-Skirt} A.G.M. / (Mold Number) {R-Skirt} (Horizontal Bar) / (Date Code) SB
- Light Yellow Green $5-10 US
CD 430 {F-Skirt} A.G.M. / (Mold Number) {R-Skirt} (Unattributed Roman Numerals) SB
- Ice Green $5-10 US
CD 432 {Unembossed AGEE} SB
- Light Gray Green $1,000+ US

Condition

As you can see from the pictures, I have a bunch of these CD 430s. Condition of them ranges from Very Near Mint to Mint. Minor dings, fleabites, flakes, fisheyes and chips are the most common type of damage seen on these pieces. I discovered that one of these that I got in a large batch had a small hole drilled through the dome.

Market Place Musings

This style of insulator is almost always available on eBay. These are quite common among Australian insulators, and they are not particularly valuable for the most part. There are probably at least a few auctions every week for this CD. Often they are sold in groups with other styles. The common colours are readily available, but the scarce colours almost never appear on eBay. They can generally be purchased from a few dollars up to $20 or more, depending on the colour.