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Post by bandrow on Mar 8, 2020 15:14:14 GMT -8
Hi Adam,
Thanks - I hadn't thought of checking that. I see that Monclova is actually closer to Toledo - but in 1973, at age 13, my sense of geography was limited to where I had ridden in a car with my parents!
Cheers! Bob
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Post by bandrow on Mar 8, 2020 15:23:58 GMT -8
Hi Again,
I found an obituary for Newell (Soups) Schwamberger in the Toledo Blade, 14 March 1991 - he passed on 12 March 1991. I wish I'd had gotten to know more about him - maybe why he was called "Soups" would be the most interesting thing!
Cheers! Bandrow
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Post by foxxdoc on Mar 9, 2020 7:59:16 GMT -8
There certainly wasn't much involvement with bringing in insects in 1970"s. When I was in Cleveland purchased live invertibrates from Welling and moth ova from all over. never an issue.
When I started this Post I wondered who the people were who supplied distributers like Boughton ( whom I also bought specimens ) Butterfly Art Jewelry aka the Butterfly Company. For sure Welling; but who in Africa , Asia , etc. Any memorable names ?
Tom
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Post by jhyatt on Mar 10, 2020 5:41:18 GMT -8
I well remember Dave Bouton, A. Glanz (I went to his shop in Far Rockaway around 1973 or 4, but I had purchased specimens from him way back when he was located at 291 E. 98th Street, Brooklyn. Funny how that address stuck in my mind!), Clo Wind in California. Welling and Kemmner for Mexican material...
Among field collectors, does anyone besides me remember Paul Pfenninger? Lived in Indiana, moved to Florida and passed on several years ago. His greeting was always the same: "Have a beer!".
Cheers, jh
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 10, 2020 7:20:01 GMT -8
Boy do I remember Paul Pfenniger! Way back in the 1970's the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterist held a spring field meeting in the Red River Gorge. Along a dirt road next to the Red River, Paul was driving his big white Cadillac, he saw a butterfly he wanted, got out of his Cadillac with net in hand, did not put his Cadillac in "Park" and it rolled down the road and partially over the bank. A tow truck was required to get the Cadillac back of the road. He also caught the butterfly.
He lived in Boynington Beach, Florida. He and his Wife separated while living in Florida. He was big into orchids and air plants (Tillandsia) He had a swimming pool that was enclosed in screen. The pool was full of large tropical fish.
He was raising Owl Butterflies and large tropical Saturnidae moths. No permits.
He was a real character.
Out collecting, net in one hand a cold beer in the other.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 10, 2020 9:41:37 GMT -8
I think that it is really great that stories of insect enthusiasts long-departed (or not, as the case may be) are put down in writing on the forum. Maybe one day relatives will find them in a Google search, and I suspect that they will be happy to read such anecdotes and know that their relatives have been remembered.
Keep them coming.
Adam.
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Post by 58chevy on Mar 10, 2020 10:30:22 GMT -8
When I was a kid (in the '50s) I used to order from Bob Wind (based in California). Many of the specimens in his catalogue cost less than a dollar back then. The most expensive was Papilio aristodemus ponceanus, which cost $15 and was not endangered at the time. It was way out of the budget of a 10-year-old kid, so I never got one. However, I did save up for a hercules beetle ($10), but he was out of them so I got a goliath beetle ($7.50) & 5-horned rhino ($2.50) as substitutes. I still have one of his catalogues. He went out of business in the early '60s. Have any of you older guys ever ordered from him?
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Post by bandrow on Mar 10, 2020 17:51:59 GMT -8
Greetings,
58Chevy - your post reminded me of Eduardo Welling's price list - I ran across one from the mid-70's a few years back (it's filed away somewhere now) and I wanted to cry over the prices! When it first arrived, I was about 16 and had little disposable income, so I only bought a few things, going in with a friend who ordered 6 live scorpions from him. The scorpions arrived in a wooden box, with tiny air holes drilled for them - that would NEVER make it past customs these days!!
Back to the list... when I found it, I was shocked to learn that in the '70's I passed on buying any Deliathus specimens - at $10.00/ea. they were too expensive for me. I've seen them recently selling for a minimum of $200 and up. And Cerambycidae were sold by size - 10 cents for small, 25 cents for medium and 50 cents for large. With a hundred dollars in the 1970's, I could have cleaned up!! I did get a couple of nice Callipogon barbatum for around $1.00 each...
Also - back in the late 70's, I purchased a box of specimens from either Cameroon or Congo - believe it was the former - from the "House of Charity". This was run by Giovanni Onore, a priest that has resided for many years now in Ecuador. Giovanni was in Ohio just a year or so ago, but I didn't have opportunity to see him. I remember paying no more than $2.00 each for things like Petrognatha gigas, Diastocera trifasciata, Homoderus gladiator, Augosoma centaurus and many other smaller things for around 25 cents each... oh, and a nice Goliathus for $5.00!!
Cheers! Bandrow
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Post by jhyatt on Mar 11, 2020 6:28:35 GMT -8
Leroy, Apropos to Paul Pfenninger: Back in the early '80's he mailed me, out of the blue, a start of a banana plant and a few Caligo eggs. I planted the banana in a whiskey half-barrel, put the eggs on it, and the plant growth actually kept up with the larval feasting. Came time that summer to go to the beach for a couple of weeks, and the larvae (I recall 2 of them) looked mature. I made a huge sleeve out of muslin and tied it around the stem of the banana. Came back home to find sleeve in place, but no signs of larvae or butterflies or pupae. They must have escaped my sleeve somehow.
I still to this day grow bananas that are propagations of that original Pfenninger plant. And I have a couple of Cattleya orchids that came from his collection, too.
Any idea what became of his butterflies?
jh
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Post by foxxdoc on Mar 11, 2020 8:17:57 GMT -8
In the 60's the problem was where to get those great specimens I saw at the museums.
Butterfly Art Jewelry aka The Butterfly Company had an ad in the Boyscout Magazine. Wow !!
Discovered the Lepidoptera Society and found all those great for sale ads by Welling . Bouton , Wind and Duke Downy for cocoons
Received a lot of ova from England.
The membership listings by countries and interests also opened a lot of new sources. That's where I found most of my African specimens.
The real problem out of the country was payment. no pay pal. bank checkes. very confusing. No telephoning.
I miss the old Lep Society. Today Almost no for sale ads and international listings are small.
Tom
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Post by 58chevy on Mar 11, 2020 12:04:15 GMT -8
I still have an old full-color catalogue from Butterfly Art Jewelry, circa early '60s. Prices similar to Bob Wind. There was a smaller insect dealer in California named Ben Karp. I think he was only in business for a short time. Anybody heard of him?
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Post by foxxdoc on Mar 12, 2020 7:18:22 GMT -8
It would be interesting to see some of the old catalogs not just for the prices but for what was available . I don't think I ever saw a ponceanus for sale or if I did price was too high. Butterfly Art had the best real catalogs. Bouton had a hand typed list as did most of the others. Worldwide Butterflies out of England had a great catalog( and still does) . But fo rme they came along later.
Did business with Miguel Serrano in El Salvador. He actually ended up here in the Tampa area. I believe he's dead.
Some have mentioned the collector in Monclovia Ohio. If he was the guy I visited he was not just a Lepidopterist; he collected everything and kept it in his house. When he died the collection ended up in an empty drug store and community attempted to maintain it. It l fell into neglect
Paul Villard and his book " Moths and how to raise them " ? was my guide for rearing
Tom
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Post by kevinkk on Mar 12, 2020 14:28:43 GMT -8
As usual, some interesting reading, and I recognize a lot of the names. Mr. Welling rang a bell, it would have been the early 80's for me. Worldwide Butterflies...dream stuff for an American, I looked into getting an import permit and promptly gave up. Far Rockaway, a great old source. I might still have an Insects International catalogue somewhere. Paul Villiard's book? My favorite library book, someone nicely found me a copy some years ago, dated a bit, but still useful. The Lepidopterists Society, a great source at one time, even though by the time I could contact a seller, it was often too late, although I made a lot of generous contacts and enjoyed many uncommon moth species. The old days are gone, and there are positives about trade today, especially with email and payment options. It was through the lepidopterist newsletter I was contacted by an entomology tour in the Dominican Republic, a super trip for a 16 year old, just being able to collect at random and bring them back without a problem, a little different nowadays.
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Post by jhyatt on Mar 13, 2020 12:35:07 GMT -8
Odd coincidence.... this thread was recently discussing John Kemmner, an "old-time field collector" from Texas. I just took off the spreading board a nice little series of Callophrys henrici solana from Texas, collected back in the early 1970's. Sure enough, they are labeled "leg. J. Kemmner". I have absolutely no recollection of how I came to have the series in my papered-bug freezer, but I must have traded with or bought from him at some point.
Cheers, jh
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Post by jpfenninger on Dec 23, 2021 4:21:31 GMT -8
Someone mentioned family members stumbling upon google searches of loved ones... Thank you all for this. Paul Pfenninger was my grandpa. I happened to be in Key West this past week and hit the Butterfly Conservatory there, which made me google my grandpa, and I found this. I'm glad to hear his memory still lives on. He was one of a kind. No one else in our family continued his work, unfortunately. We still have frames with butterflies and moths on walls in multiple homes within the extended family. I also loved hearing the story of his car rolling over the ravine. Classic. I sent this link to my dad and uncle as well, his 2 sons. Thanks again!
Jeff Pfenninger
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