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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 17:51:10 GMT
I think how a collection is kept speaks volumes for it's owner, a hoard may to some extent be disorganized and neglected to dermestids,a collector who treasures his specimens and has worked long and hard to obtain them will in my experience curate and care for them properly.
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Post by nomad on Jul 18, 2016 18:15:48 GMT
I wish I had the time and money and space for a larger hoard. A collection should bring pleasure to the person concerned and I am quite sure it does no matter what we collect. It certainly is the best hobby and interest. Many of you have amazing collections that must bring great enjoyment.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 18:21:24 GMT
Ah yes, space and money, if only. Still I would rather save up every spare penny that I can to buy a long desired rarity than any other thing on earth and no matter how long I have been doing this the sense of wonderment never dims, whether that is in the field, at an insect fair or any other means, the body might age but the mind stays young.
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Post by trehopr1 on Jul 19, 2016 8:31:23 GMT
I feel that anyone who has a true endearing passion for this hobby has probably had to work hard to strike a good balance in their life. Family and job commitments, along with monetary constraints help to shape our ways and means in the hobby. So for a great many of us any time that we are given for our hobby as well as any things that we acquire come to us in a generally (well deserved) if not hard earned manner. Hence, the wonderment never dims and our appreciation remains boundless. I have never understood the mindset of collectors with bottomless pockets. It seems to me they seem to work so hard to have the "most toys" but, are only satisfied in their latest conquest for a short while; only to move on to the next thing of desire. There are guys with car collections for example, who never even drive most of what they own. How about the art collectors who wind up shoving off most of their pieces to some temperature controlled vault; nicely sleeved and protected but,completely unappreciated. And fellows, like this one I've known who has not looked at a good measure of his specimens in over 20 years. How does anyone do that ? Well, I suppose some things will always remain a mystery and when the human quotient is any part of it; the outcome should be of little surprise.
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Post by jshuey on Jul 19, 2016 13:22:34 GMT
Here are a few shots from a collection that may well qualify as a hoard. The collection has a N.A. artic focus, and I estimated that there were over 2,800 Colias, 6,000 Oeneis and 4,000 Boloria. Total collection size was estimated at just below 50,000 spread specimens.
By the way - it's not my collection!
John Attachments:
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 19, 2016 14:15:55 GMT
Hording is often the result of an addiction. That said, an insect collection of the mass described (800+ drawers) can be of extreme scientific value, particular if collected over decades.
It is not a waste at all, assuming that it winds up in the hands of museums or serious students of entomology. That said, the sad part about hording is that as the horder ages they tend not to be able to maintain their collection, and still not willing to let it go- and the collection succumbs to decay.
Somewhere there is a line between "serious collector" and fanatic horder. Usually, the horder suffers personal effects as a result of it. In my case, I simply wasn't going to turn my home into a museum, so I've capped my reference collection at 100 drawers. As material comes in, material goes out to museums or other collectors.
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Post by jshuey on Jul 19, 2016 15:45:35 GMT
Hording is often the result of an addiction. That said, an insect collection of the mass described (800+ drawers) can be of extreme scientific value, particular if collected over decades. It is not a waste at all, assuming that it winds up in the hands of museums or serious students of entomology. That said, the sad part about hording is that as the horder ages they tend not to be able to maintain their collection, and still not willing to let it go- and the collection succumbs to decay. Somewhere there is a line between "serious collector" and fanatic horder. Usually, the horder suffers personal effects as a result of it. In my case, I simply wasn't going to turn my home into a museum, so I've capped my reference collection at 100 drawers. As material comes in, material goes out to museums or other collectors. I agree that the size of the collection isn’t really hoard-like. Where it seemed extreme to me, was that the drawer of Oeneis was typical. One species, collected from one site, over multiple years of visiting the same site over and over. And there were multiple drawers like this - same bug, same place, different years. In this collection, it seemed like there was always an urge to get simply more and more specimens without as strong of an urge to collect at new sites. By the way – this was all crammed into about 320 drawers, and countless Schmitt boxes.
I’d like to think that I don’t have a hoard for a collection. It tends to be small unit trays for each species, sometimes creeping to lots of specimens for really confusing species (I have 1.5 drawers of Calycopis drusilla/quintana/origio – and I still can’t tell females apart). The photo below is pretty typical of my collection, except that they a fairly pretty bugs and the bulk of the collection is Hesperiidae . So while I have perhaps 20 - 30,000 specimens – don’t think of it as a hoard yet (or do I need to seek counseling soon!!!!). John
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Post by trehopr1 on Jul 20, 2016 6:40:50 GMT
John, that looks to have been a phenomenal and very complete collection of the artic butterfly fauna. But, with that being said; it is most certainly overkill to say the least ! I do think that given the latitudes that collector was forced to collect in; he probably relied on has "honey hole" sites year after year simply because it's too much work to try to find new ones (in many people's minds). Not everyone is adventuresome. Still it looks to be organized, well labelled, and beautifully spread. In a way a testament to that collector's lifelong passion. Provided it found a good home or perhaps several homes than I feel something as over the top as it is --- it was still worthwhile because it was "cared about". Your collection looks to be well curated and organized. You obviously know your group of interest well. So there is no way I would ever regard it as a hoard. It is utilized regularly, as well as added to, and it is probably re-arranged from time to time as new species are added. A working collection indeed. Exoticimports, I certainly agree with your above statements regarding the obvious scientific value attributed to a collection built up over the last 45 + years and encompassing numerous acquired collections. However, it is truely dis-heartening to realize that all these wonderful things (which I personally saw on at least 2 occasions) are just sitting in a basement unattended to and potentially at risk of damage. It is to me sacrilege.... I couldn't possibly ever be that jaded and uncaring as to leave it basically alone and as some testament to my aggressive collecting nature.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2016 10:04:41 GMT
"Honey hole" sites here in the UK are becoming a rare thing these days, getting less by the year. Every year I go to the same small field where I know that the arete, eyeless form of Aphantopus hyperantus occurs and nowhere else in my area, this means that I have the tedious task of netting and releasing countless hundreds of individuals to check the eye spots, I couldn't imagine keeping them all, don't see the point of amassing a huge series of one species from the same place when a series of 5 or 6 pairs will suffice of the normal form together with any abs that come my way, that way my modest storage space will always be ample.
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 20, 2016 12:54:12 GMT
Hording is often the result of an addiction. That said, an insect collection of the mass described (800+ drawers) can be of extreme scientific value, particular if collected over decades. It is not a waste at all, assuming that it winds up in the hands of museums or serious students of entomology. That said, the sad part about hording is that as the horder ages they tend not to be able to maintain their collection, and still not willing to let it go- and the collection succumbs to decay. Somewhere there is a line between "serious collector" and fanatic horder. Usually, the horder suffers personal effects as a result of it. In my case, I simply wasn't going to turn my home into a museum, so I've capped my reference collection at 100 drawers. As material comes in, material goes out to museums or other collectors. bulk of the collection is Hesperiidae . ...do I need to seek counseling soon!!!!). John
In my opinion...a collection of ugly little brown things...yes you do! But that's just my take on things! Chuck
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Post by wollastoni on Jul 20, 2016 13:29:47 GMT
All kinds of collections might rapidly become a hoard.
Due to limited resource in free time, space and money, after 15 years collecting all rhopaloceras, I specialised myself in one genus, Delias.
Specializing helped me focus on a reference collection, and study more in depth, make discoveries and so on. It is also simpler to transmit to a serious Museum 40 interesting drawers of one genus/family than 4000 of various families.
Specializing is the best decision I took, and I recommend it to all my collector friends.
Of course you keep your general interest for all insects that you can satisfy with butterfly countings, photo trips, entomo associations and so on. For example, next week, I will try and see Polyommatus coridon gennargenti in Sardinia, even if I don't collect them.
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Post by Paul K on Jul 20, 2016 14:58:47 GMT
Specializing is the best decision I took, and I recommend it to all my collector friends. . That is much easer to say then done I wish I could do that but they are all interesting and amazing in their way.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Jul 20, 2016 15:42:23 GMT
My solution is to specialize in a couple of groups (Papilionidae and Delias), and to dabble in varying degrees with everything else. That way, I have the satisfaction of serious study on favourite groups, but I'm also free to pick up whatever else I might like to have.
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Post by jshuey on Jul 20, 2016 17:27:14 GMT
In my opinion...a collection of ugly little brown things...yes you do! But that's just my take on things! Chuck
Some of them have a slight purple sheen if you hold them at just the right angle under a bright light... And some have spines on their mid-tibia. If you squint at them, they can be agreeable looking. So I'm pretty sure that medication might help me and my hoarding.... j
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2016 17:47:29 GMT
"My solution is to specialize in a couple of groups (Papilionidae and Delias), and to dabble in varying degrees with everything else. That way, I have the satisfaction of serious study on favourite groups, but I'm also free to pick up whatever else I might like to have"
You have a will of iron Danny, I intended to do this when I came to adulthood, well I'm 51 now and still waiting for the resolve, the problem is insect fairs, if on the rare occasion I have money to spend I just can't help rarity chasing, there I've admitted it to myself and the world, if there is a cure for this affliction please tell.
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