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Post by nomihoudai on Oct 25, 2021 5:59:39 GMT -8
This weekend I went to the Insectorama insect fair in Belgium, this time as a visitor. It was great and well attended with many visitors and all the sale tables were occupied. there was over 60 sellers at the fair. I had not been to a fair in two years while I was living in Texas. It was great to see so many people interested in insects. I felt that the market is shifting a little bit, but it was refreshing. There was more sellers that only had showy species for frames with no data, but at the same time this attracted many young adults (25 to 35) that enjoy items from nature to decorate their place. Seraing has always been a good place to sell as they advertise the fair in the local area and many non-professional people visit the fair. My goal of the fair was to buy several boxes of Morpho to tinker around with some display frames, but I had fierce competition in this endeavor. Some series had been sold out before I got back to them. I had spotted a whole row of Morpho sulkowskyi which I wanted, but as I arrived with a new box another person had passed and I had to watch them pay for all of them. Luckily, it was a big seller and they later found a few more M. sulkowskyi in another storage box and I was able to buy enough. I took a few pictures here and there which I will post over the next days. Please let me know if you are interested in anything particular and I'll check if I have taken any snapshot of it. This was taken towards the end when lots of visitors had left and a few sellers had already packed up. Still, the place had plenty of people and insects:  Awesome Saturniidae  Some Asian Nymphalidae   A hybrid, it was a very interesting specimen, I would have bought some Troides but couldn't find the species I was after:  Morpho aega, Morpho absoloni from Brazil, and the M. sulkowskyi I was after:  |
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Post by nomihoudai on Oct 25, 2021 6:12:11 GMT -8
And my greatest catch of the day, a small display box with beetles that I assembled. There was a new trend among the beetle sellers which started to mount them with open wings. Species from top to bottom: - Sternotomis virescens from Togo
- Lamprima adolphinae from Papua New Guinea
- Odontolabis sarasinorum from Indonesia
- Polybothris sumptuosa gema from Madagascar
The Sternotomis is amazing. I didn't know that there is that many colorful Cerambycidae. I might acquire more of those in the future. They feed on coffee and range throughout the African continent and satellite islands as far as I can see.  |
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 25, 2021 6:45:00 GMT -8
Like to see more photos!
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Post by trehopr1 on Oct 25, 2021 11:27:02 GMT -8
Thank you nomihoudai for sharing some of your photos and personal prizes with us !
Looks like you had a great day out. I really enjoy seeing scenes from these events since we don't have them here.
I think it is a travesty of sorts that we don't have such shows here because I think there would be ample interest from real collectors and people who just like anything having to do with nature.
Please continue to show any additional images you may have and yes, you really have to like those flying beetles with their legs outspread because it's no easy task getting them to look that way.
Fantastic...
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Post by nomihoudai on Oct 26, 2021 3:50:53 GMT -8
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Post by panacanthus on Oct 30, 2021 18:19:07 GMT -8
“The bottom grasshopper in this one really got me thinking. Why does it cost 170 Euro? Did this person take a trip to that location and come back with only 5 grasshoppers and decide that their value should now be 170?”
Not likely! It’s just a matter of availability and rarity, like with most of the more expensive specimens whether they be Orthoptera or other groups. I have a pair of Monachidium lunum in my collection and the female cost me about the same from a very well respected supplier. The male is even less often seen and was more money than the female. In my experience this is a very rare grasshopper to see offered. I remember many years ago a dealer in the US telling me that he had received hundreds and hundreds of mixed grasshoppers from the region where M. Lunum can be found and in this huge batch there was only a single specimen of M. lunum, so my guess is that they are simply rare. Whatever the reason they are very seldom seen for sale.
There are two forms of this species that I know of. One has an orange pronotum like that in your photo, and one has a solid black pronotum. For anyone not familiar with this species, the pronotum is very highly arched and the hindwings have a deep blue metallic shimmer if the lighting is right. It’s a very impressive species.
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Post by nomihoudai on Nov 8, 2021 14:38:49 GMT -8
“The bottom grasshopper in this one really got me thinking. Why does it cost 170 Euro? Did this person take a trip to that location and come back with only 5 grasshoppers and decide that their value should now be 170?” Not likely! It’s just a matter of availability and rarity, like with most of the more expensive specimens whether they be Orthoptera or other groups. I have a pair of Monachidium lunum in my collection and the female cost me about the same from a very well respected supplier. The male is even less often seen and was more money than the female. In my experience this is a very rare grasshopper to see offered. I remember many years ago a dealer in the US telling me that he had received hundreds and hundreds of mixed grasshoppers from the region where M. Lunum can be found and in this huge batch there was only a single specimen of M. lunum, so my guess is that they are simply rare. Whatever the reason they are very seldom seen for sale. There are two forms of this species that I know of. One has an orange pronotum like that in your photo, and one has a solid black pronotum. For anyone not familiar with this species, the pronotum is very highly arched and the hindwings have a deep blue metallic shimmer if the lighting is right. It’s a very impressive species. Thank you so much for the background information. With the scientific name I was able to research the specimen and indeed the prices are very high. So I guess the seller was pricing it by reference from other sources where he saw that price. |
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Post by joachim on Nov 29, 2021 6:44:49 GMT -8
If the price is 2 EUR, it is not worth a cent. If you write 200, maybe you sell it for 120.
It is a phenomenon that cheap things are not considered full of value. When I see a Mercedes Benz for 200 EUR, it is either stolen or not ready to drive. If the price is 5000, okay, then I try 4000 or 4500, even if it is a junk car.
Therefore, insects, if it is not the "known" butterflies, are certainly offered for strange prices.
Joachim
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 29, 2021 7:12:27 GMT -8
If the price is 2 EUR, it is not worth a cent. If you write 200, maybe you sell it for 120. It is a phenomenon that cheap things are not considered full of value. When I see a Mercedes Benz for 200 EUR, it is either stolen or not ready to drive. If the price is 5000, okay, then I try 4000 or 4500, even if it is a junk car. Therefore, insects, if it is not the "known" butterflies, are certainly offered for strange prices. Joachim That IS true! Humans are odd animals. When I was selling at the LA Insect Show, I had a rare beetle marked at US$80. The first day nobody bought it. So the second day I priced it at US$300 and it sold immediately- THEN other collectors came to ask if I had more! I've done this a number of times for friends who are selling, but items don't sell. I tell them to double the price. And no matter if it's worth the price, somebody sees the higher price and will buy it. Ebay and other auction sites are amazing. Two idiots get into a bidding war, and drive the price three or five times what an item is worth. Not long ago I watched a $400 item sell for $3000 because two guys got into a bidding war. Chuck |
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 29, 2021 8:21:54 GMT -8
That is an interesting observation, I get the thing with a bidding war, not wanting to get "one-uped" but it is a measure of inexperience with
how auctions work, at least on eBay, other sites have rules about sniping and will cut off bids at a particular time.
You never know about cheap prices though- it could be someone that just doesn't realize what they've got, I seen it with "buy it now"
on eBay before, or it might be a disgruntled spouse selling your Mercedes for 100 bucks..
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