u/New-Seaweed-7313

Curious to know if anyone here has ever recovered antique glass insulators in Union County, New Jersey. Thanks!

Curious to know if anyone has found an old glass insulator like this in Union County, New Jersey. Thanks!

Does anyone know which brand/model of glass insulators would have most likely been used in Rahway, NJ (central New Jersey, about 16 miles southwest of manhattan) between 1920-1940? Thanks!

Curious to know if anyone else collects these.

This is a 1920s Newark, NJ Public Service trolley token. The silver colored ones. How many would you say were made? Please let me know. Thanks!

House built in 1914 in Central/Northern NJ. Would like to identify the species if possible. Thanks!

My childhood home in central/northern NJ was built in 1914, and I’ve always wondered whether it may have been based on a catalog/plan book design or even an early kit home.

The color photo is the actual house. The black-and-white photo is NOT my house — it’s just a very similar early-1900s house I found online that resembles it closely and shows what this style may have originally looked like with wood shingles on the upper story.
A few details about my house:

Steep front-gabled roof

Full-width front porch

Simple rectangular layout

I know not every old house is a Sears kit, and many were local builder copies or pattern-book homes, but I’m curious whether this design resembles anything from:

Sears

Aladdin

Gordon-Van Tine

Harris Brothers

Other 1910s plan books/catalogs

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’ve been researching the history of my childhood house for years and am trying to learn more about its origins. Thanks!

My childhood home in central/northern New Jersey was built in 1914, and this hallway entrance light fixture was still hanging there in the early 1990s. Unfortunately it was thrown out and replaced before I was old enough to save it, but I recently found it in an old family home movie from November 1994.
I used AI to enhance the footage a bit so the details are clearer. The shade was not crystal or clear glass — it looked more like white/milk glass or possibly satin glass. The fixture had a brass or brass-plated ring frame around it and hung in the small hallway by the front entrance.

I’ve always wondered:
What style would this be called?
Roughly what decade do you think it’s from?
Does it look original to a 1914 house, or more like a later replacement?
Any idea what manufacturer or catalog style it resembles?

I know the photos are imperfect since they come from VHS footage, but this is probably the best surviving record of it. I’d love to identify it or maybe someday find a similar one.

What do you think? Thanks!

Found this old porcelain knob from disconnected knob & tube wiring in a New Jersey house built in 1914. The wiring was already abandoned when I found it years ago, so I ended up keeping the insulator and making it part of a lamp project.

I’ve always wondered what the raised “T” logo means and which company manufactured it. The logo is molded into the porcelain rather than stamped afterward. I know different companies made these insulators in the early electrical era, so I’m curious if this mark can be traced to a specific manufacturer.

The dark material around the center is the original nail with glue on it from when I reused it in the lamp, not burn damage. Does anyone recognize the logo or know what company the “T” might represent?

Thanks!

I know this is impossible to determine with certainty, but I’m hoping some of you who know late-1920s radios might be able to make educated guesses based on a few clues.

I came across this February 1930 newspaper article from Rahway, NJ about someone finding a nest of mice inside his radio after investigating a short circuit. The interesting part to me is that this happened in the same Rahway house that later became my childhood home decades afterward — so now I’m extremely curious what kind of radio may have been there at the time.

A few clues:

Article date: February 1930
The article says the mice nested “in the built-in speaker”
That wording makes me think it may not have been a small tabletop set with a separate speaker
Since mice were able to nest inside the speaker area, I wonder if it could have been a larger floor console with open cabinet space behind grille cloth near the bottom
The mention of bare wires and a short circuit sounds typical of late-1920s sets
The family was probably middle-class/working-class rather than wealthy

Would a console radio from around 1928–1930 sound plausible here? Any brands/models that were especially common in New Jersey homes around that time? Philco? Atwater Kent? RCA Radiola?
I know nobody can identify the exact radio — I’m more interested in what type of radio this most likely was based on the clues. Thanks!

Found this small metal object while metal detecting around my house built in 1914 in New Jersey over 10 years ago.

Details:
About 2.5 inches long
Not very thick, but also not completely flat
Uneven/asymmetrical shape
Curved hook-like ends
Brownish patina/corrosion
Appears to be some kind of non-ferrous metal (does not seem to be iron or copper)
No visible markings, lettering, or numbers
Found buried in the yard
One side currently has some clear glue/residue on it because I mounted it in a display box along with other objects I found on the property over the years.

I have no idea if it’s decorative, industrial, hardware-related, melted metal, or part of a larger object.
Searches/keywords already tried:
“old brass fragment,” “bronze hardware piece,” “decorative metal fitting,” “melted metal object,” “ornamental brass piece,” and “vintage metal detector find.”

Included multiple photos from different angles.

Found these four identical solid iron objects loose in a narrow cavity where the basement ceiling meets the wall in an older house built in 1914.

Details:

Quantity: 4 identical pieces
Material: appears to be solid iron/steel
Length: about 12 inches each
Weight: very heavy for their size
Shape: tapered body with square narrow ends
Wide ends appear mushroomed/deformed from repeated hammer strikes
No visible markings, numbers, or threads
Not attached to anything when found
Included second photo showing the cavity where they were found.
Trying to identify what they were used for. Possible construction, industrial, railroad, or machinery-related tool/hardware.