Walk-around of a cecropia moth, Hyalophora cecropia (Linnaeus, 1758) by an unknown artist. This species occurs throughout much of the eastern North America, south and west possibly to southern Arizona.
A little background on this figure. I stumbled upon it on eBay one day. It was being sold alongside a similar wasp (also reviewed here today) as handmade tin insect figurines. The starting bid was about USD 3.50. I bid it, about 1-2 days before closing, with a max bid of USD 20. Well, about 4 hours before it closed, I was outbid. I decided to try for 50. Outbid. 70. Outbid. What the heck, USD 100. Outbid. Hmmm. 120. Outbid. 150. Outbid. I thought what the heck, did USD 200 and was not outbid. Then about 20 minutes later, I got outbid. I decided I was going to let it go. Anything 200 or more for these two figures couldn’t be worth it, right? Well as the last couple hours ticked away I started thinking I was not going to get beat. No way, not today. With 13 seconds left, I snuck in a max bid of USD 225. As usual, when max bids are preplanned, they alternate up about 2 dollars at a time. Well, that started to happen, and I won them in the last second with a bid of USD 220.20! I can’t believe I did that! But with the figures in-hand now, I have absolutely NO regrets!
On to the figure. The cecropia moth (shown here) has a maximum distance between wing tips of 9.5 cm. The base is 9.0 cm long. It stands 7.0 cm high. It seems to fit into the 1:1 range for this species! The figure was sold as being tin, but it feels maybe wood? Plastic? I honestly cannot tell. The wings are thick and made of the same material as the body. The paint job is exquisite! The only thing that would have made it a bit more realistic is if the antennae were broad, so simulate plumose antennae (even females have slightly plumose antennae). It is attached to a flower with a wire. The flower and its leaves are plastic, but not cheap like plastic flowers usually are. The plastic plant is then attached to a piece of driftwood.
and you can not miss the opportunity.