[leps-talk] value

[Anne Kilmer]

Chris J. Durden wrote:

> Mike,
>    To answer your question, there are 100 known "inverted Jennys".
> 
>     I don't think you get my point. A choice collectible has the value of a 
> car. A rare collectible has the value of a house. American collectors are 
> just not interested in acquiring butterflies as collectibles. The dealers 
> in butterfly specimens depend upon the decorative value of a prepared 
> butterfly display. This is worth the price of a dinner to the price of a 
> resort weekend stay.
>     A population of butterflies in habitat is priceless, worth far more 
> than the houses or fields or mines or clearcuts that replace the habitat.
>     A harvest of a fraction of one percent of a butterfly population (far 
> less than the avian predator toll) that provides specimens for education of 
> butterfly enthusiasts or historic documentation of the occurrence of a 
> species is well worth it.
> ...................Chris Durden
> 
> 
> At 09:23 AM 5/31/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> 
>>Chris,
>>
>>I take your point that very rare stamps may be worth more (or priced 
>>higher which
>>isn't exactly the same) then rare butterflies (or that stamp collectors 
>>have more
>>loose change than butterfly collectors).
>>
>>But----
>>
>>I presume that the number of "Inverted Jenny" stamps is limited (perhaps 
>>only 1
>>like the British Guyana 1cent).
>>
>>We should wait until there is only one Graillsia isabellae or Teinopalpus 
>>and see
>>what that price that can fetch.
>>
>>Mike Gochfeld
>>
> 
> 

One of the horror stories I have read tells of a collector taking all 
mature butterflies, all larvae, and removing all the host plants in 
order to make his little prizes far more valuable. (Obviously this was a 
species close to the edge, anyway.)
That was a while ago, perhaps in Wales (Neil will undoubtedly be able to 
fill in chapter and verse) and there was a stark simplicity about the 
action.
It is this sort of blithe ruthlessness that we fear, and we have to 
hope that the world of collectors is self-policing. What I have seen of 
it indicates that it is, indeed.

Setting the wolf to guard the hen house is exactly how we got guard dogs 
in the first place, and I can think of no better system. As all of you 
have agreed, the butterflies are worth far more in the field than they 
are in little boxes, and that's your focus.
Anne Kilmer
Mayo, Ireland


 
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