£1375 FOR THREE ORCHIDS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8869, 20 July 1907, Page 4

£1375 FOR THREE ORCHIDS.

A romantic page in the llist 9p r ®f orchid culture was closed at Messrs Protheroe and Morris’ auction rooms, when an original plant Ml * tol “i Yexillaria Memona G. D. Owen and two parts taken from it together realised the sum of £1375 10s. The plants were scarcely more than six inches in height, and we:re in-significant-looking. They formed part of the “Glare Lawn” collection of the late Sir Frederick Wigan, the three days’ sale of which realised a total of £4590. The plant, of which only these three specimens exist m any collection, has gamed all the highest orchid honours. It is the most wonderful variety of Miltonia ever seen, and the wonder of it does not consist in shape or colouring so much as in the fact that in the middle of it is an almost {perfect butterfly 1 form, apparently painted on the flower. The curious resemblances of many orchids to common objects, ! such as bees, spiders, screws, and tresses, consist m the shape of - flower; but in this case the sepals and petals of the flower bear an imprint and the effect is cf - ? purple butterfly fettled on the rich rose ground of tlic flevvor* 1 . years this Miltonia ‘had multiplied fn value 13 times.; Its h story is a - most sensational in the light it tfiriws on orchid culture as a spemilation. Messrs Sander, of s £- "I; bans, received one very small plant among other mixed orchids, Lorn their orchid-seeker in South America in 1896. They named it alter Mr G. D. Owen, a famous collector of bygone days, and sold .it for £lO5 to Sir Frederick Wigan. In the course of time Sir Frederick Wigan divided the plant into three, and tho sequel was the £1375 10s obtained for the three "portions. It is a curious fact that Messrs Sander, who “ sold the original for * back a third of the plant for £441.