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HOW MUCH

bjs

By bjs

32 comments


Last night i watched the conclusion of the Bidding on eBay for a single bulb of Galanthus (snowdrop) Cultivator E A Bowles.with 20 people bidding the price reached a staggering £357.00 yes for one bulb, whether GOYs anothergalathofile bought it i don’t know, I can only think he has won the lottery if he did.
E A Bowles was the plants man who lived at Middleton House,i think he died around 1954 and grew many snowdrops and crocus,and after his death one snowdrop was selected from his garden and named after him.I should think he would be turning in his grave now.
Some one is going to ask me what is special about it well i saw the picture of it and it looked like a snowdrop,being flippant it probably has a green spot where others have not.
Is it obscene to pay that sort of money who knows it has all happened before Tulips 150 years ago fetched enormous amounts, one bulb then was traded for a house in Belgravia,makes £357 look reasonable.
And of course silly money was paid by the gentry before the first world war for Orchids most of which they killed.
The thing is if you had £357.00 pounds to spend on a plant what would it be. Me I canot think of one as much as i love them,I could of course buy another Jamie that would be about the right amount,

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Comments

 

Wow, that is a large amount for one snowdrop!!! I was biding on three Pleione bulbs that started at 0.99 and the price reached 26.09pounds....and I thought wow, someone must really want this. Nothing near the hundreds of pounds for the snowdrop!!!

25 Jan, 2011

 

What prices they reach on ebay, but in the past bidding I don't until the last minute, as I have found last time I bought a few years ago, especially on toys for grand kids no one bids then soon as you put your bid on some one bids against it, when for days no one has bidded prior, there has been people caught having some one else bid for them to higher the price, or another pc with a different ip address bidding agaist you, so I keep to gardening growers I know don't up prices, in fact one lady notified me as I was the only one that bid I could have it before ending as she had more to put up, she also kindly sent me emails to let me know details how to look after it and what best to feed it with, besides the look after instructions that came with it. My answer is no plant would I pay that amount for as it could die any time and all plants out flower them selves and die eventually. Agree with you I would rather buy another Jamie :o)))

25 Jan, 2011

 

anglesey abbey in suffolk has a lovely display of snowdrops and sells them too. we were shocked at the price of some - not as much as that one you found Bjs but they told us they were collector type items. the normal snowdrops were reasonable as were the beautiful hellebores they had on sale.

25 Jan, 2011

 

Rather have a Jamie any day Bjs...I think you have to be young or a fanatic (or both), cos when you get older you know everything is on loan really...
They cant have been brought up in and just after the war years..I still cant get out of the habit of asking "can I afford it, is it worth it"

25 Jan, 2011

 

Some people will pay really silly money for snowdrops. Whilst even I have to admit that E A Bowles is a rather fine example of G. plicatus it is still only one of many forms. For £357 you could buy a bucket full of un-named forms.

25 Jan, 2011

 

or a whole allotment for several years!

25 Jan, 2011

 

Like you 6p I dont bid til last minute, I use Bidsniper, but I choose my max bid and leave it alone. It bids in last few seconds unless it has already exceeded my bid and if I dont get it...tough! Its easy to get involved in a bidding war..

25 Jan, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Tetrarch, what is Bidsniper not heard of that,I know that you can make a bid and be auto told there is a higher bid,

25 Jan, 2011

 

I don't blame you Tetrarch I could get 375 dinners out of that amount, which I have had to on mumourous occations eat at 1.00 aday or pay my bills lol which with going up and doubling will proberbly be one bill lol

25 Jan, 2011

 

Its some programme one of our Aussie gets loaded on to my puter as a favour Bjs..I know how it works, but thats just about it! Will pm the web address.

25 Jan, 2011

 

Crikey!--- with my luck the rabbits would have it!

25 Jan, 2011

 

perhaps they have to lock it up pam! however much would the lock cost?

25 Jan, 2011

 

omg lol ................does any one want to bid on one of mine !!!! its called chritina ....................

25 Jan, 2011

 

I find it fascinating how people can pay this amount for a bulb in the first instance, which they've not seen and put their trust in the seller. Oh, lol plus delivery of £2.75! Thanks for sharing this amazing event Bjs.

25 Jan, 2011

 

Love it Cristina!!! I'll have one! BJs.how would one know that this bulb is genuine?? After all it could be just any bulb!!!

25 Jan, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Well grandmadge I have googled it and yes one would know, as it has six outer petals of equal length normally there are three, and no inner cup or petals,so its an expensive freak .Bit like a postage stamp with the queens face missing

25 Jan, 2011

 

Amazing, but a bit of gamble on e.bay though!!

25 Jan, 2011

 

wow its crazy isnt it brian, even if i had the money i just wouldnt pay out that for any plant i dont think, must have money to burn is all i can say lol

26 Jan, 2011

 

Well, guess it makes the world go around Sanbaz, the nursery makes some money, grows more plants to sell to the likes of us, employs people to help, sells another solid gold bulb, sells to some i.... oops person and around we go again!

26 Jan, 2011

 

lol Tetra, yes your right but still wouldnt pay silly amounts,

26 Jan, 2011

 

nor I! We are not some i...oops people!

26 Jan, 2011

 

:o) haha

26 Jan, 2011

 

Fancy paying all that... ive got snowdrops i bought last year with a bit of green on them.............

26 Jan, 2011

 

I just popped a comment up re someone I know who sells snowdrops for £145 per bulb. Afterwards I came across your blog re the £357 price tag, totally agree it's a nonsense plus I told this person that they all look much of a muchness so what exactly is it that fetch's these high prices ( I have to be careful as he is a smashing chap but a galanthus fanatic with a staggering collection )
The difference between a lovely fresh clump of bulbs in the green for £1.50 & a single bulb going for three figures is a minute smudge of green or yellow ! No, not in my world I'm afraid.

26 Jan, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

I agree Bampy. I think up to a point when you are a collector of any thing your eye becomes tuned to very fine differences in the chosen object,For thirty plus years i collected and bred new cultivars of Primulas,(not quite the same as our wild primrose)until i had three large glass houses with well over a thousand plants in them,The main difference with them being there was more variation in colour but in a way just as mad.I still have some but nothing like those numbers,it was exciting at the time bringing home cups and medal from around the country,and on one occasion receiving an award from the RHS.So been there done that.now i have a quieter life, sometimes.

27 Jan, 2011

 

I know what you mean BJ, many a time I have had to 'have a word with myself' with my pleione collection - - - - - to buy or not to buy ?? tough decisions sometimes. This is the first year I have decided not to buy, I have a few hundred so I'm not exactly short of bulbs.
Your Primula collection sounds brilliant especially the RHS award. I bet at it's height your plants must have made a spectacular display?

29 Jan, 2011

 

Not guilty Brian, the most I've ever paid for a snowdrop is £40. Even if I had won the lottery I still wouldn't pay that amount! I wish I had one to sell though. I understand the comments of the contributors who see nothing but a different green mark, but there are some outstanding snowdrops, Wasp and Magnet to name but two. If the fever gets you, it's hard to fight. It's worth looking in the garden centres at the moment for their pots ofsnowdrops. I bought a pot of elwesii this week and there were 4 different markings on the drops within the pot, a couple of them most promising. You can build up an interesting collection without bankrupting yourself!

29 Jan, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

May be I should get on my hands knees and see what variation grows in my own garden,

29 Jan, 2011

 

You will find a wide variaton in the garden, Bjs. Some will be just as interesting as the 'infamous' varieties and all they lack is a name.
I consider myself thankful that I have not caught this particular fever but can enjoy looking at the different forms when they are displayed on the show bench.

29 Jan, 2011

 

oh dear, suddenly realised I might have collectitis, just added two more helebores to my collection, white lady single & a double .
Thanks for the tip on seeking out variations within the same pot of snowdrops Anothergala, I love this plant & have about 10 different types - - - Oh dear ( again) I see a slippery slope looming ahead - - - ???? All good fun !!

29 Jan, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

I like it.thats vaue for money,lol

10 Feb, 2011

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