Been swapping butterflies all day....got an Empress!

When this move is over, I think I'll plan a trip to the Keys.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Congratulations P-man. A real beauty!

(I am buying a butterfly net Today!)

 

Awesome trade

 

Wonderfull coin Panzerman , congrats.

No butterfly was harmed acquiring this Faustina Aeternitas as:

 

Q

 

Absolutely gorgeous!! The details are literally stunning...not to mention the wonderful 'yellow toning'

Only 10,000 left??? LOL

 

At one time I had over 12000+ mounted specimen, housed in 400 museum drawers/ in 16 cabinets. My coin collection takes up very little space in comparison, way easier to maintain
One prominent Japanese collector has over 2 million mounted specimens/ employs 12 professional curators to mount them/ do data labels.... Enough $ in bugs to probably get a complete collection of Roman AV/AR/AE coinage. He paid up to a 100K for one butterfly

 

that must have been one scary butterfly!




what a super duper awesome coin PM!



my humble recent AE.

 

Are captive bred Papilio aristodemus considered fakes? If properly mounted specimens from the last century can last that long, I'd expect the market to assign a difference according to provenance. For one thing, they would be legal while one Bing catches next week might incur problems with the Endangered Species laws (if they are still enforced?).

 

I'm puzzled about one thing: why wouldn't an enterprising, skillful lepidopterist simply capture a breeding pair and churn out copies of these rare types? While coins can't reproduce by themselves, butterflies certainly can.

 

Older aristodemus ponceanus are legal to own/ however if someone were caught trying to net one today on Key Biscayne=heavy fine USFW enforcement people. All the aristodemus ssp. majasi/ bjorndalae/temenes/nominate are all local and rare. The newest ssp. driophylus found on Grand Inagua Is. is extremely rare. So far, no one has been able to breed any of the ssp. Problem is you have to find larvae/ rare them on their foodplant/ then have them go thru instar pupa stages without mutation/ other problems. But to answer Doug's question/ a bred one would be completely OK, only difference bred ones are perfect/ no flight wear.

 

That scenario has happened, but is rare. When one travels to lets say New Ireland/PNG to get chilasa moerneri......which is worth 4000euros male/ double for the female. You maybe there for the flight season, be lucky to see one flying high in the forest canopy/ females are never seen. A friend of mine, was their as a biologist for three years. Luckily he found a bunch of pupas on their foodplant. He took them home, only one emerged, a perfect female. He sold it to me for 1500US. I now have it, can sell her for 10K easily. Here is a photo/ one of 5 known

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_aristodemus#Captive_rearing

I would think it would be a big mistake to remount an old specimen and break the proof of it being legal. I can't see how any captive reared specimen could be legal since the only way to achieve one would be to "take into custody" a parent which has been protected since the 80's. It would seem hard to establish legality without 'slabbing' or having dated photos from the old days when everything was legal.

 

Your right on that point Doug/ I have ornithoptera alexandrae which is CITES appendix ONE. It was protected since 1970. If you decided to sell this, even with original data labels/ customs would confiscate it. That is why these are sold on the "black market" for 10K a pair. This butterfly is very common in its local . habitat. Here is my pair. male/female

 

@panzerman -- that is an impressive coin and I'm sure the butterflies were impressive too!

I recall having mentioned in another thread of yours how I sometimes see mounted butterflies while I'm out and about scrounging in antique shops, junk stores and the like. Saw these today out on my lunch break and I snapped these pics - just would be curious is all.


This group was @ $550.00 framed
- the big white one I looked up (Actias Selene) and seems quite common . . . I have to presume all the others are too.


$350 on these - I note another common Selene


This group of 5 only $30

Anyway what is it that makes a butterfly valuable? Is it primarily availability? and without a huge amount of study there is probably no way for a casual observer to know one way or the other, huh?

Yeah yeah I know stick to coins and leave the butterflies to panzerman!

Congrats again!! Awesome trade and looking forward to seeing what else you get.

-d

 

Always enjoy learning about butterflies and seeing aurei! Great coin big P!

 

Dang!

 

Thanks! Prices are based on supply and demand. Some sp./ssp. are extremely rare, thus prices will reflect that. Another thing is quality/ perfect AI specimens command higher prices. Same rules as with numismatic coins.

 

Beautiful OP coin!!!

 

Panzerman, awesome trade!

Doug