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Author Topic: Butterfly wing collage  (Read 4702 times)

GLOCKCS

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Butterfly wing collage
« on: July 08, 2011, 10:34:11 am »
This is another thing my mom inherited when her mother passed away. It is a big 2 1/2'x6' butterfly wing artpiece. It is holographic and very unique. I searched for her to see if I could find anything online to compare it to.














This is on back of the frame, not the piece
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waywardangler

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2011, 11:21:43 am »
I have seen similar before but more like a picture with varied wings rather than all the same hue of wings. No idea as to age, value, or desirability. Hundreds of butterflies gave their lives and for what? It would not be something I would hang on the wall. I raised hundreds of Monarchs when I was a kid, had a bug collection in Jr. High school, and have 2 mounted butterflies/moths around here somewhere but killing things just for art does not do it for me at my age (60).
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GLOCKCS

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2011, 12:58:09 pm »
It is not my objective to offend anyone with this piece. I don't fish, hunt, or have anything wrong with either of these things. I also do not have a problem with leather, furs, ivory, or anything that falls into a similar grouping as far as using the remains of an animal for pure elegance. Killing an elephant just for the ivory would be something that I would consider wrong. With butterflies, it too would be wrong to farm them and slay them just for specific pieces of art. I would like to hope that these butterfly wings were collected after their lives, but who knows what happened here.
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waywardangler

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2011, 04:36:30 pm »
I am not offended, just voicing my position. I fish and hunt and have no problem doing so. I love leather. Love fur, antlers, etc. when taken and used after legally taking game for meat. I just think these butterflies were raised and then killed strictly for art. I could be totally wrong.
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mart

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2011, 06:45:10 pm »
I have seen a few of these pieces from the Victorian era although not nearly so large !!  It seems that these were a popular pastime for ladies who didn`t have much else to do !! I have no idea how the wings were acquired. Since most butterflies live about a month we can hope it was after a natural death from old age !! If I were you I would check with someone to see if the wings were from a North American butterfly !!  Its possible that they are from a tropical variety where there are many more than we have here !!
« Last Edit: July 08, 2011, 06:49:08 pm by mart »
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hosman321

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2011, 08:20:30 pm »
This is a very beautiful piece, although I can't give much insight about age or origin. Can anyone read the writing?  I think the only reason the piece would not be desirable is because of the sheer quantity of butterflies that were collected. I would liken it to having one mounted taxidermy lion being a beautiful piece in a room. But hundreds of mounted lions filling a room is overkill and no longer beautiful. If it were one butterfly, it would be of interest to many collectors. But having that many is somewhat morbid and "ugly", in a way. It's not your fault it was made, and it is not garbage, it's just that the market for it would be very limited. Which means less money.
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sapphire

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2011, 08:22:46 pm »
Apparently there is still some sort of market for newly produced pieces (how many pieces is questionable though)

http://www.butterfly-gifts.com/1712-butterfly-wing-art.html


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ironlord1963

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2011, 08:50:09 pm »
     I have seen a few pieces at the Antique mall, and I'm with wayward on that, these always make me cringe thinking about it.  But they are wonderful looking pieces.  Not sure I could add much other then the ones I saw are small, and this appears to be hundreds of wings  :-\   , all in all I'm sure they have value and a large one like this would not surprise me to get into the low $$$.00 range, being a marked piece maybe even mid $$$.00. 
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mariok54

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2011, 12:45:36 am »
Again, only my personal opinion, but seeing this almost makes me want to weep.... and to realise through that Link Sapphire posted that people are still making them today, it seems almost criminal and such wanton destruction of natures own creatures.
Also... quoted from Sapphire's Link

The artist who created this particular collage used only butterfly wings in perfect A1 condition with no fading or tears.

If this is the case, then those butterflies did not die of old age.
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hosman321

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2011, 06:12:17 pm »
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hosman321

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2011, 06:14:18 pm »
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talesofthesevenseas

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Re: Butterfly wing collage
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2011, 10:48:31 pm »
I saw one of these at a restaurant one time. I don't have a problem with this kind of thing when it was done in the Victorian era. People were not as concerned with animal rights and I think it is one of those kinds of things that we need to appreciate for it's beauty, and at the same time, be glad that as a whole the demand for this kind of art and collecting has diminished.

I'm kinda in a similar boat with you Glockcs, I recently became the recipient of a hoard of Victorian millinery pieces. A few are rather gruesome, and yet they are truly beautiful. I'll post some pics on another thread.
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