Wow ! Nine Grand for one Lep -- Really...

[trehopr1]

I just noticed a winning bid of $9,025 for a subspecies of Bhutanitis. Subspecies ludlowi... Now I admittedly don't know the specifics of Bhutanitis classification as I have no up to books on them however, this pricing seems out of this world (or at least; out of Japan !). I very much doubt the "winner" will actually cough up the cash... So what gives.
I know that Ebay bidding between people gets rather "rash" if not downright stupid at times as I have tried to bid on some items (here and there) only to be literally "stamped out like a cigarette butt" within a half dozen bids. Obviously, at least 2 very serious and determined people really had to have this item regardless of cost. So, is this really a case of "false" bidding only to bail out on the deal at the end. How about your thoughts...

[Paul K]

Keep in mind that there are some billionaires who also collect bugs and for them $9000 to spend is an equivalent of $9 for most of us.

[Adam Cotton]

Dec 7, 2019 23:41:41 GMT trehopr1 said:

I just noticed a winning bid of $9,025 for a subspecies of Bhutanitis. Subspecies ludlowi... Now I admittedly don't know the specifics of Bhutanitis classification as I have no up to books on them however, this pricing seems out of this world (or at least; out of Japan !). I very much doubt the "winner" will actually cough up the cash... So what gives.

Bhutanitis ludlowi is not a 'subspecies', it is a separate species found only at a few localities in eastern Bhutan and the border area with India. It was described in 1942 from a series of specimens collected in 1933-34 and not seen again until it was rediscovered in 2009.

Someone has obviously found a way to get a few(?) specimens out of Bhutan to Russia, this is the second one I have seen on eBay.

Adam.

[nomad]

Is this a CITES protected species? he also sells Bhutanitis lidderdalii which is CITES, but then they are being sold by a well know Russian seller, so that means very little.  Nine grand as has been mentioned is  small change if you a rich millionaire, and there are a few of them that collect insects.

[exoticimports]

‘‘Tis the buying season. And two bidders in a war can easily double the going price. Saw it last week when an item I thought I’d buy for $1000 sold for $2600.

And yes $9000 is chump change for many people. The slow old Ferrari 308 in USA now swaps regularly at $80,000 a registered AK47 is $50,000, and many business owners don’t think before buying their wife a $25,000 necklace and retirees who have never sailed before are buying $500,000 sailboats so fast there is a two year wait. Urban areas are awash with big money.

[Paul K]

But wealth is kept between few, unfortunately they don’t want to share with others. I know few of my clients with big wallet but still want to use others for next to nothing, greed, greed and greed one more time...it is a shame

[nomad]

Well if your an artist such as Damien Hirst, you can get £2 million for a lot of butterflies in a spiral artwork, and not rare ones at that   and he has done quite a few butterfly spirals .

[wollastoni]

Another case of FAKE BIDDING : the Top 3 bids were made by 0-feedback buyers... totally fake.

The seller do this to raise his prices when he sells outside of eBay.
He will just cancel the ebay listing and tell to his customers, look it worths 9000 USD, I do it for you at $5000 because you're a friend...

[nomihoudai]

That will cost him around $400 in fees. Lol! All we can see is that somebody was willing to pay $1400 for the bug.

[mosca1]

Dec 9, 2019 13:39:34 GMT nomihoudai said:

That will cost him around $400 in fees. Lol! All we can see is that somebody was willing to pay $1400 for the bug.

And his reputation!

[jmg]

At an auction at the Auction House (Drouot) in Paris, I saw an aberrant Agrias sold for more than 40,000 euros. The buyer was actually a millionaire!

[jmg]

"Do you have a picture of that specimen?"
Sorry, no !