Lee Wright Antiques and Interiors

Description

A 19th Century Butterfly Collection in its Original J. J. Hill & Son Collectors Cabinet.

An astonishing, large and wide-ranging collection that comprises 54 glass-topped trays full of butterfly specimens. Specimens include the king swallowtail, found exclusively in North and South America, the atlas moth, endemic to the forests of Asia, moths of the genus syssphinx, the Ulysses butterfly from Australasia, the Burmese jungle queen, female birdwing butterflies from Papa New Guinea, the red Helen from south east Asia and countless more. These specimens were clearly collected from all around the world, not just the more common British species, and this implies that the original collector either travelled widely and collected these specimens themselves or had contacts around the world who collected them on their behalf. To form a collection of this scale and quality would have taken a great deal of time and patience as well as a large financial outlay.

The butterflies are in unusually good condition and the collection includes some very interesting and rare examples. The collection is contained in its original glass faced, mahogany display drawers, set in a fine collectors cabinet of three banks of drawers. The cabinet is labelled by its maker, J. J. Hill & Son - London. Hill & Son were specialist makers of these sorts of cabinets. An advert by the firm printed in the 1938 Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation states that the firm were 'Entomological cabinet manufacturers' and 'specialists in interchangeable unit systems'. Cabinets by Hill are still used in the Natural History Museum in London as well as other museums and important private collections. They were the leading manufacturers of these pieces of furniture and their work is highly sought-after.

A collection of this sort is both scientifically important and highly decorative and is the ideal talking point. Priced very reasonably making each tray approximately £300, without the cabinet. A rare find!