Yesterday & Today: Insulators & Bottles

[cti4sw]

I posted 3 insulators I found yesterday, along with a pair of bottles. It was raining, so I didn't get any natural light pics.

Today, however, was a beautiful sunny day... so I went digging again, found more, and here's those natural light pics I know y'all love

Yesterday's finds are mixed in, so I'll just post them all.

Insulators:



From yesterday is one of the straight-sided Hemingray-95, the Brookfield, and one of the Whitall Tatum Co. The other 4 are from today.

Bottles:



The Hendricks Dairies jar is from yesterday. The blob top citrate magnesia is from today, as well as the Bunte Brothers apothecary jar. The pic of the Bunte Bros. jar is deceptive; the jar actually stands 12.5" tall and is 4.75" wide at the base, and a 3" wide mouth. The seam ends at the shoulder and there is a worn pontil mark on the bottom.


Interestingly enough, the Hemingray-95 straight-sided insulators are of an uncommon style, and a Bunte Brothers jar identical to mine but with more intact labeling is also quite uncommon. That would put the count of uncommon finds in this dump site to 4 (including my James Barker No. 1 New Process Creamery jar).

Again, any of this stuff is for sale. Just PM me an offer. I don't collect jars (no space) nor insulators (no interest), I just do it to see what I can find.


EDIT: I almost forgot. I found my first padlock too:

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[Twinkletoes]

I had an insulator collection when I was a teen. I lost it somewhere along life's path. Those are really nice! Great story too! Thanks for posting!
View attachment 788197

 

[surf]

The blob top citrate magnesia is from today, as well as the Bunte Brothers apothecary jar. The pic of the Bunte Bros. jar is deceptive; the jar actually stands 12.5" tall and is 4.75" wide at the base, and a 3" wide mouth. The seam ends at the shoulder and there is a worn pontil mark on the bottom.

Hey cti4sw,

I do like that Citrate. Just an FYI on the Bunte Brothers, who were candy makers. That jar would have had a glass or metal lid held on my a metal clip.

"In 1876, Ferdinand Bunte, Gustav A. Bunte, and Charles A. Spoehr started a candy manufactory on State Street in Chicago. After a few years, Ferdinand's son Theodore W. Bunte took charge of the business. By the 1910s, when Bunte Bros. did annual sales of about $2.4 million, the company employed about 1,200 people. As late as the 1950s, it had over 1,000 workers in its Chicago plants." Bunte Bros.

I think you may be mistaking an early machine made valve mark for a pontil. Bunte began in the post pontil era. The texturing in the embossed letters is also an indicator of the early 20th Century.

Sweet finds, sir.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Great Finds!!! I used to collect insulators too, and I'm going to go up and get all of mine from my moms house this summer....Those Hemingray 95's were made for use in mines, and they're pretty hard to find. You've got two of them! I can't tell if those lines in them are cracks or just lines from the glass being poured? For Sale (Sold or No Longer Available) > CD 185 HEMINGRAY 95 MINE INSULATOR HEMI BLUE SOLD Hemingray.info - The Hemingray Database: CD 185

 

[cti4sw]

Hey cti4sw,

I do like that Citrate. Just an FYI on the Bunte Brothers, who were candy makers. That jar would have had a glass or metal lid held on my a metal clip.

I think you may be mistaking an early machine made valve mark for a pontil. Bunte began in the post pontil era. The texturing in the embossed letters is also an indicator of the early 20th Century.

Sweet finds, sir.

Thanks! I did read the same article you did, for info on the Bunte Bros. However, an image search I did for "Bunte Brothers Chicago jar" showed a jar exactly like mine but with a small paper apothecary label, so I thought that the style I found could have been used for other things. Thanks, too, for the info on the valve markings; I had heard of valve markings but didn't know the difference to look at.

Great Finds!!! I used to collect insulators too, and I'm going to go up and get all of mine from my moms house this summer....Those Hemingray 95's were made for use in mines, and they're pretty hard to find. You've got two of them! I can't tell if those lines in them are cracks or just lines from the glass being poured? For Sale (Sold or No Longer Available) > CD 185 HEMINGRAY 95 MINE INSULATOR HEMI BLUE SOLD Hemingray.info - The Hemingray Database: CD 185

I must be getting good at my research, because I found that Hemingray database too. Ken, you'd be surprised to know that in addition to the 2 intact ones I also found 2 more that had pretty sizeable chunks missing. So, for a pretty rare type, I found 4 in one hole but only 2 were keepers. The lines you see in the ones I have are stress fractures; they exist beneath the surface; the surface of the glass is not marred in any way around those cracks.

I found a FaceBook page for insulator collectors, so I joined the page and posted what I had. A guy wants a few more pics of the mine insulators before he makes an offer Hopefully the others sell just as easily, I don't have the interest nor the space to collect these things.



EDIT: Would either of you know how much my insulators are worth, or what I might expect to get for them on eBay? If I have to post them I'd love to know what to set the BIN price at. By the way, are citrate magnesia bottles uncommon as well? Scott and I kept passing them up bc of the frequency we kept pulling them and how common the MoM bottles seem to be.

 

[surf]

However, an image search I did for "Bunte Brothers Chicago jar" showed a jar exactly like mine but with a small paper apothecary label, so I thought that the style I found could have been used for other things.

Hey cti4sw,

I saw that "labelled" Bunte jar like yours also:

LOT #115 - Large clear glass apothecary jar by Bunte Brothers

Not only is it misidentified, but I believe that label was an after-market addition meant to deceive. It did accomplish that, as it sold high.

The lines you see in the ones I have are stress fractures; they exist beneath the surface; the surface of the glass is not marred in any way around those cracks.

I noticed those as well, and believe they will hurt the value. I'm not an insulator guy, but here is a starting place for you: Glass Insulators | Glass Insulator: CD 185 - Mine Insulator, CD 185

By the way, are citrate magnesia bottles uncommon as well? Scott and I kept passing them up bc of the frequency we kept pulling them and how common the MoM bottles seem to be.

Citrates are fairly common and were produced for many years, and have tons of variations. There are Citrate collectors, and yours is a nice TOC blob topped example. Start it at 5-9 and see how it goes, or offer a group lot.

Citrates are not MoM's. Phillips' first Mom's were a bluish aqua and were cork finished. Non bottle folks seem to love the later cobalt examples with the screw tops. Group lots might work well for them too.

 

[cti4sw]

Thanks, Surf. Since it's your opinion that the Bunte sold high in that auction, what value would you put on mine?

That insulator store says damage to mine insulators is "typical" so if a mint one goes for $99, maybe I'll start mine at $49.99 and go from there. That is, if I don't get an offer beforehand.

The citrate magnesia I will start at $7.99. Thanks for the reply!

 

[g-olden years]

Wonderful post! I've never seen those mining-version insulators before, very interesting. Since they're rare, you may want to start even higher than $49.95 if you don't get a higher offer first. Have fun! Andi

 

[cti4sw]

Wonderful post! I've never seen those mining-version insulators before, very interesting. Since they're rare, you may want to start even higher than $49.95 if you don't get a higher offer first. Have fun! Andi

So, $74.95 starting bid? :P There's always the option of $150 BIN/BO too, I suppose. I would love to know what their price guide says a CD-185 goes for.

 

[oldsalty19]

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I wouldn't be surprised if the two you have go for close to 100$ each. Also, I'd go back and get the chipped ones too. I can easily see a collector paying a few bucks for one in chipped condition just to have one on his display.

 

[cti4sw]

I wouldn't be surprised if the two you have go for close to 100$ each. Also, I'd go back and get the chipped ones too. I can easily see a collector paying a few bucks for one in chipped condition just to have one on his display.

Funny you should say that bc some idiot on FB just offered me $30 for both bc they're in "horrible condition" lol

I'll post them both for $99 buyout. The chipped ones are about 75% complete, they are missing some pretty big chunks but they're still identifiable as CD-185s. Thanks, Ken!