California Glass Insulator Company

This glass manufacturer operated in Long Beach, California from 1912 to 1916 and began under the name “California Glass Insulator Company” . Insulators and bottles were made in considerable quantities.  In 1914, the firm was reorganized and the official name was changed slightly to “California Glass Works”.

Nearly all of the insulators made at this factory were marked “CALIFORNIA” across the lower skirt, with the exception of the CD 102 “pony” telephone style which is lettered “C.G.I.CO.”

A variety of glass colors are encountered, including a range of purple (amethyst) shades, burgundy, plum, sage green, smoke, peach, yellow, aqua and clear.  There are many very slight color/tint variations found and California insulator collectors enjoy finding examples that don’t quite fall into an exact color slot, but fall somewhere in between the ‘”accepted” color names that have been loosely assigned to them.

For information on another California-based glass manufacturer of the early twentieth century, please see my webpage on the McLaughlin Glass Company, of Vernon, California.

More info will be added in the coming months, as this page is under construction!