ceramic things from an old power line

[brickyard]

I found these attached to a telephone pole that's been down a long time. My first attempt at getting one, I stomped a hole into the pole. Got stung twice by the bees living in the rotten wood. Damn, bee stings hurt.

The picture shows one upside down, one upside up, and a broken one.

They are heavy.

Only markings I could find are 168 and 169.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Are they worth keeping or cleaning?

 

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[BosnMate]

They are insulators. I think those are used to keep the guy wires supporting the pole from an unwanted grounding.

 

[Southern Brass]

Telephone pole insulators... Looking on ebay I didn' see this particular style but the other porcelain insulators arent selling very high. Just my two cents worth .. they probably wasn't worth the effort and the pain of getting stung by bees. But since you got them keep em. There is a good story of your effort to get them and the suffering from the bee stings if nothing else .

 

[Southern Brass]

Antique Insulators - Collector Information | Collectors Weekly .......Here is a good link that explains what they were used for and the codes ( numbers) ex 168 & 169.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Those are high voltage insulators, I forget the proper name for that type but they're the kind that connect to one another to make different lengths. Those don't really have any collector value since they are very common, and still in use. You might find someone to pay a few bucks for them as decorative pieces though.