So get this. There used to be a vacuum store near my house that I would frequent to get vacuum parts and knowledge. The store closed down in May, and in its place is an independent thrift store. I go in there today, and much to my surprise, there is actually some good stuff in there! Some knick-knacks, and in the back was some electrical stuff. I spied this insulator on the shelf, and it happened to be only $1. It's a Hemingray model 40. Extremely common. I'll put this in the dishwasher to try and get the gook out of it and stuff.

Should I put this in the gallery since it's kind of lighting related? I've seen other insulators in the gallery also.

Cool! I've always had a thing for translucent colored glass things. I have a friend who collects insulators; he's the only person I know in real life who I've ever discussed my lighting hobby at length with.

To answer your question, I personally wouldn't call this lighting-related. Many more liberal members would; I don't.

Stick in a lit C7 lamp in it to make a night light, and then post it (!)

+1, that would be cool! Hmm, red and green insulators would make neat marine navigation lights with the appropriate 12V bulbs...

Well, as more and more installation is moved underground, such insulators are disappearing from our world...

Here, there are very few underground installations and overhead installations are being replaced with new overhead installations. The insulators are replaced with opaque ones in either grey ceramic or black nylon. Either way, they are disappearing everywhere but in antique shops.

I have three spring shaped glass insulators, I assume they're for telephone lines and not power lines.

I have a few big isolators from 22kV lines, all Brown/dark Red porcelain

Over here overhead lines are still being installed new outside cities, but high voltage now use composite isolators and low voltage use isolated cables