Butterflies by Steal Street

Review of the complete set of Butterflies by Steal Street. These are not toys, but rather resin figurines. I have also seen sets of frogs and elephants by them. I first saw these figurines several years ago, at a gas station market in rural Georgia. I bought just one to have a representative and it would be years later before I saw the whole set on eBay. I have recently purchased this set.

There are 12 figures that are not sold as specific species. I even wrote to Steal Street and asked them if they were intended to be certain species, to which they confirmed they were not. Most, if not all, are clearly modeled after actual species and the determinations (and justifications below) are of my assigning.

The figures are roughly 2.5 inches (60 mm) tall and depict the butterfly over a flower of sorts (which are also nicely done).

Sorry the pics are raw; it’s getting late and I didn’t feel like cropping them.

1. obrina livewing, Nessae obrinus.
This looks to be a fairly solid identification, and a new species for me!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

2. unknown. This one has be baffled. I am sure it was modeled after one of the tiger swallowtails, but there is enough artistic license at work to make a sound ID difficult.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

3. purple emperor, Apatura iris.
I bounced around a couple ideas with this one, including Sasakia charonda. Both species have been made before but I settled on this one.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

4. eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus
Despite the lack of tails, I think this is a sound ID based on the color and how commonly this species has been made.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

5. orange sulfur, Colias eurytheme
This is the one I bought back in Georgia. I always liked pierids. Several have this general morphology, but I think my ID is sound.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot


6. malachite, Siproeta stelenes
This is another familiar species so I am confident on my ID. My only other figurine of this species is the Franklin Mint one.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

7. common Jezebel, Delius eucharis
This ID looks good, although the color is more akin to what’s on the underside of the wings (a phenomenon that happens now and then with figures)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

8. broadly green-banded swallowtail, Papilio chrapkowskoides
I struggled with this one for a while. I kept trying to place it in Graphium, but the shape of the wings didn’t sit well with me. I finally started looking at Papilio in the nireus-species group and settled on this one due to color pattern and that it seems to be one of the more widely-distributed species.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

9. red admiral, Vanessa atalanta
This one also gave me some fits. I finally concluded it was a red admiral with which the painter used his or her artistic license a bit extra. However, this could easily be attributed to another Vanessa or even an Aglais.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

10. large tortoiseshell, Nymphalis polychloros
This could easily be one of several Nymphalis or Polygonia but I setted with this common, familiar species.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

11. great orangetip, Hebomia glaucippe
A good fit among all the orangetips, this species has been made in toy for a few times, as adults and as a larva.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

12. great blackvein, Aporia agathon
This one gave me some trouble too. It appears to be a pierid akin to Delius eucharis (above), but most things that look like this again have this color on the underside. I finally compromised with this one

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]take a screenshot

They are beautyful, but how strange that they aren't made as real species.
There is enough beauty among real butterflies to satisfy any manufacturer/artist, one would think

Thankyou for sharing

Very colourful :)

The n°9 let me think about a Vanessa gonerilla or at least a mix with Vanessa atalanta

Kikimalou wrote:

The n°9 let me think about a Vanessa gonerilla or at least a mix with Vanessa atalanta

Yes Kiki that is a really good observation and suggestion. I will probably stick with the more familiar V. atalanta to be safe though

Thank you Blaine

It is surely not easy to try to assign species to figures that were not intended to represent real species. Though, surely some real ones served as inspiration and you did a great job trying to figure it out. They're very beautiful! :)

Kikimalou wrote:

The n°9 let me think about a Vanessa gonerilla or at least a mix with Vanessa atalanta

I am thinking more and more No. 9 is an Aglais sp., maybe a crude A. urtica?

bmathison1972 wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

The n°9 let me think about a Vanessa gonerilla or at least a mix with Vanessa atalanta

I am thinking more and more No. 9 is an Aglais sp., maybe a crude A. urtica?

I agree. Vanessa Atalant does not have those big blue marks. Vanessa gonerilla does.