These rather interesting "towers" enabled openwire telephone and electric lighting circuits for 360-degree distribution to customers, subscribers, poles along the street, etc. They date back from the 1890s through the early teens. They were quite convenient for stringing wires but never very commonplace here in the United States. The one shown has a platorm for servicing the wires with an ornate cupola pointed top. In Great Britian such "distro ring" poles had a bit more presence especially in thickly settled neighborhoods. The iron poles with their circular "rings" that supported insulator pins all around them are the Holy Grail of the insulator bracket and pin world. They are extremely rare and I do not know of a surviving example in existance here in the US. Scrap drives did a lot of them in during World War I like a lot of other prized metal-things that collectors covet today including old cars. Trust me, I'd love one as part of my ongoing outdoor displays. However if the opportunity of captivating a distro-ring ever occured I would do my best to make sure that insulator-pin-specialist Lou from California secured it with stipulation to me that it would be mounted proudly in front of his house. lol ;-)