If you can not tell a Ponderosa Pine from a Hinoki Cypress, even from a poor quality photo, you need not concern yourself with how much that banzai bush sold for or judge its worth.
I like Rick, want to know ,"Why is it important"?
Mark.. maybe you need to go back and reread Atilla's post...it did not say or even infer that the picture of the book cover had anything to do with the tree in question. (I must say it was difficult not to reply to your statement with same disrespect that you demonstrated in yours.)
The question is important only because it was asked!
I do not have specific knowledge but I strongly suspect that a fair number of trees are sold annually in the US for 10k and more. I know of one that sold for 15k and have seen numerous trees priced in and above that range. The problem is that the people who buy these trees are not interested in the general public knowing anything about it.
There are thousands of trees in Japan that are valued and sell for greater than 10k. I do not know if it is true but I was told from a reliable source that Kobiyashi(sp) sold a tree to the Taiwanese govt for around $5 million dollars in the late 1990's....not Yen but dollars!!!
In 2000, Mr. Iwasaki alone employed 13 fulltime bonsai and landscape gardeners and, again from a reliable source, had an easy $10 million in high quality containers stacked under his bonsai benches...and that doesn't even count the room full of antique Chinese pots that were kept behind glass. If he personally did not have 500 trees worth more than 10k he didn't have any!!
Yengling..I think your estimates are vastly conservative
John