Butterflies (Rhopalocera) are insects that have large, often brightly coloured wings, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the superfamilies Hedyloidea (moth-butterflies in the Americas) and Papilionoidea. Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago.

Butterflies

Temporal range: Palaeocene-Present, 56–0 Ma Butterflies have appeared in art from 3500 years ago in ancient Egypt. In the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, the brilliantly coloured image of the butterfly was carved into many temples, buildings, jewellery, and emblazoned on incense burners. The butterfly was sometimes depicted with the maw of a jaguar, and some species were considered to be the reincarnations of the souls of dead warriors. The close association of butterflies with fire and warfare persisted into the Aztec civilisation; evidence of similar jaguar-butterfly images has been found among the Zapotec and Maya civilisations.

Butterflies are widely used in objects of art and jewellery: mounted in frames, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in paper, and used in some mixed media artworks and furnishings. The Norwegian naturalist Kjell Sandved compiled a photographic Butterfly Alphabet containing all 26 letters and the numerals 0 to 9 from the wings of butterflies.

Tokio cigarette insert factory no 649 First Dist NY

Silk measure approximate 2” x 3” (see images)

History of tobacco silks In Cigarette packs;

Originally issued in American cigarette packets between 1905 and 1917, these ‘giveaways’ proved a very popular promotional item which was taken up by twenty British tobacco manufacturers at the advent of the First World War (1914). Silk cigarette inserts continued to be issued following paper restrictions announced by the government in 1917, but had faded out by the mid-1920s, except for a small resurgence in 1933-4. The subjects included religion, cricket, football, art, flags, army and naval badges, flowers, and clan tartans. Silk inserts were an adaptation of the popular cigarette cards. In North America between 1900 and 1936 silk cigarette cards, or inserts, were produced by tobacco companies as calculated promotional giveaways for men to pass on to women.