what's the most you've ever paid for an orchid?

[Bayard]

I paid $450 for a division of Blc. Goldenzelle 'Symphony'

[myshka]

i recently spent $45 on a blooming size Angraecum magdalenae. let's hope i can keep it alive!

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by Bayard

I paid $450 for a division of Blc. Goldenzelle 'Symphony'

Wow! I love Blc. Goldenzelle

Have you used it for any hybrids? Has it been mericloned?

How does it compare to Blc. Goldenzelle 'Promised Land' AM/AOS?

bingo

[chidlove]

The most for me was 50.00 Lc Tokyo magic has more than paid for herself in the three years i've had her I've also recently divided her,so my Daughter gets some magic too

[mollycart1]

Back in 1999, I paid $75 for a single growth Paph. micranthum. I never saw the flower and don't have it any more.

[mmorehead]

Paph. Sanderianum... $80.
Paph. kolopakingii x rothschildianum 'Charles E'... $80.
A lifetime of orchid obsession... priceless.

[LauraN]

For me it's a tie between my huge Angraecum eburneum and my Trichoglottis luchuensis. I paid $80 for each of them.

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by LauraN

For me it's a tie between my huge Angraecum eburneum and my Trichoglottis luchuensis. I paid $80 for each of them.

They are both really beautiful, Laura!
I just love them

bingo

[Psyched]

@Laura:
Now that is a stunning trichoglottis.

Being an orchid lover for a year now, I cap my spending at around $30 for Grammatophyllum multiflorum (citrinum type) and hybrid Myrmecophylla tibicinis x Cattleya batalini.

The Grammatophyllum has gotten bulb rot since and now new bulbs are no bigger than my thumb. Might take a LONG while until rebloom.

On the other hand, the hybrid is doing well and gives off wonderful scent in the morning.

[orchidsamore]

I have a $20 plant that I will offer you at $10,000 will that make it the most expensive plant.

I was shocked at the prices on OchidWeb since most of these are available for about 1/4 the price they ask. A large specimen plant is worth whatever the grower and buyer decide it is worth, but to buy from a photo on the INTERNET is crazy.

Really high prices for select breeding stock happens but few orchids are sold at those prices.

For example Encyclia cordigeria is a beautiful plant. It usually sells in bloom for about $30-35 a lot less for seedlings or younger plants. They normally have some black streaks on the leaves. It is a genetic trait.

I know an outstanding breeder that has a strain with perfect leaves that never streak. He will sell one at $500. If you do not intend to use it for select breeding it is not worth any more to you than $35.

Trdyl
I was surprised you would offer $415 for
Laelia anceps 'SanBar Super Spash'

L anceps is relatively common, so I looked up the cultivar and was again surprised that it was an awarded peloric mutation. Mutations are usually not eligible for awards. It also only scored 83 points for a 6 flower plant, not especially high.

It was Santa Barbara estates getting the award.

If this was an Ebay auction, it had better have been Santa Barbara Estates as the seller or it might have been a fraud. It has no value except if it was a true division. There is only one mutation in existence.

Mutations do not reproduce true. Even cloning can result in almost anything.

Even the awarded plant may not flower the same next time. The mutation may not be stable. When you are dealing with mutations you never know what you have.

With orchids they are a love not a necessity. If a plant gives you $415 in pleasure that is the value. If something else will give you better pleasure for the money you do not buy it.