norton
Junior Member
Posts: 47
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Post by norton on Dec 7, 2012 0:06:37 GMT -8
I missed what appeared to be a perfect Charaxes achaemenes gynandromorph. It came down to mud right in front of me, stayed about 2 seconds and then flew off up the hill behind me, never to be seen again! It was a long long time ago....................................
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Post by nomad on Dec 8, 2012 4:32:05 GMT -8
Norton
What a miss. When I was into collecting British butterflies, I once missed out on buying a pair of the extinct British race of the Large Copper [Lycaena dispar dispar] for a ridiculous price at the Leicester fair many years ago.
I even remember their data, Whittlesea mere, 1840. You would have to pay a lot of money to get those now.
Peter.
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Post by colin12303 on Dec 8, 2012 11:51:12 GMT -8
I think i owned that pair of dispar dispar.They were being sold with others at Kettering in the late nineties
I let them go about 18 months ago,like many other rarities when i got bored collecting British bugs.
I too have missed out on specimens like charaxes dowsetti and phraortes.But what i think is worse is when you pay a small fortune for specimens like charaxes superbus and thysi and then they become more available and their value plummets.
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Post by pittendrighinsects on Dec 8, 2012 14:47:55 GMT -8
Yes, that seems to be a risk with buying butterflies for large sums, but it can also be reversed, such as the case with Agrias narcissus: once readily available, now it is quite expensive  . I remember paying $70 for an O. croesus nominate a few years back and now you can find them for a cheaper price. Speaking of great missed specimens, I remember something just the opposite of that, I was barely able to get a P. garamas garamas form homeroides for $50 on ebay. In the field, a few years back in Spain, I missed a Charaxes jasius that was mudpuddling, I only got one specimen of that species that summer. Whenever I return to Spain, I rarely see C. jasius, but can never catch them because they are such strong fliers. Quintin |
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Post by colin12303 on Dec 9, 2012 5:34:02 GMT -8
Try baiting the jasius,they love rotting fruit
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Post by bobw on Dec 9, 2012 6:01:11 GMT -8
C. jasius can be abundant in north-east Spain in September. I once got 26 males in the net in a single go by gently lowering it over a dog turd. Admittedly they're not that easy to catch on the wing.
In the small sierras just in from the coast it was very easy to find ova and small larvae; we could easily find 100 in a morning.
Bob
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 7:56:52 GMT -8
"C. jasius can be abundant in north-east Spain in September"
its very abundant there late may early June too Bob, especially in the hills around Tossa de Mar.
"Yes, that seems to be a risk with buying butterflies for large sums, but it can also be reversed, such as the case with Agrias narcissus: once readily available, now it is quite expensive"
I got several pairs of narcissus in the 1980's for £7 per pair, I saw a pair for sale at newark last sunday for £80, lucky me.
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norton
Junior Member
Posts: 47
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Post by norton on Dec 9, 2012 21:47:24 GMT -8
A classic case might be Charaxes fournierae fournierae, once very expensive and hard to get, now common in collections as some collectors have given up hording them.
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Post by thanos on Dec 9, 2012 22:12:20 GMT -8
Norton, yes, but an A1 female is still very hard to get and very expensive.
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Post by pittendrighinsects on Dec 10, 2012 19:20:58 GMT -8
A classic case might be Charaxes fournierae fournierae, once very expensive and hard to get, now common in collections as some collectors have given up hording them. Where are they offered and for how much? |
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Post by thanos on Dec 10, 2012 21:41:29 GMT -8
You can get a close to A1 male on eBay for around 200 euro, however they are quite rarely available. Regarding female, I only have seen 1-2 specimens offered on eBay during years, and these were very bad B quality specimens, and ended at pretty high price for such quality ! I got my A1 female out of ebay a couple of years ago. It was very expensive, but still I haven't found somewhere another A1 female offered at lower price. Then I had the money, I got the specimen, and haven't regreted it, as it is superb and very hard to obtain especially in this quality.
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norton
Junior Member
Posts: 47
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Post by norton on Dec 10, 2012 22:13:47 GMT -8
Yes, I have a perfect female and a series of males. One of the males is green like Charaxes jolybouyeri, but it is fournierae. Some other Charaxes that at one time cost a fortune are now very cheap as most collectors have it - Charaxes taverniersi is another good example.
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Post by thanos on Dec 10, 2012 23:19:45 GMT -8
Last year I was offered a superb female of the Rwandan fournierae vandenberghei but the price was astronomical . |
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Post by africaone on Dec 10, 2012 23:39:50 GMT -8
these king of insect are highly linked to the market laws and they enter in the special category of things that everybody want, not only the specialist of the group (like some Papilionid, some Charaxinae, some Saturniid, Goliathus, some prionids and lucanids, etc.)
zingha in the 1960's was also high priced ! see today ! there are so many others !
Note that a species can't be really rare .. otherwise it will disappear ! What is in question is accessibility and technic of hunting ! (i. e. Euryphaedra thauma that is probably one of the most wanted butterfly in Africa, is extremely uncommon in collection .. but one time I have seen a series of some dozens specimens caught in 2 weeks !). The only Charaxes that resist today to massive catchings seems to be lydiae ! All other Charaxes can be found with some technic in the right place at the right time with more or less success !
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norton
Junior Member
Posts: 47
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Post by norton on Dec 11, 2012 0:10:52 GMT -8
Oh yes! Charaxes lydiae - and the story of a perfect female that flew into Gilles Faravel's car, sat on him and then flew out of the window again - he missed that specimen!
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. I remember paying $70 for an O. croesus nominate a few years back and now you can find them for a cheaper price.
