Continuing the Vietnam 'thread'...

In my town there is a function going on now billed as a 'trade fair'. This is the second year for it and it's pretty much grossly overpriced merchandise that you don't really need accompanied by very loud music and very bad food. Because Bonsai is growing here almost half of the area has been taken over by it now.
I say 'growing' because the sport has been overpopulated by the new-rich segment of the socitey, they have, like they have done with the real estate market, bought not according to quality but price. Yes, some of the trees were very nice but, even my wife realized that most of them were very, very overpriced.








I'll post a few more later as the web is running very sloooooowwwww now.
As a point of reference; the last big tree in all the rocks (with the wire still on and silver paint used as cut paste all over the butt ends) the price was $100,000 -- the last one was $8,000.

Bob

As a point of reference; the last big tree in all the rocks (with the wire still on and silver paint used as cut paste all over the butt ends) the price was $100,000 -- the last one was $8,000.


Is that US $ or Vietnamese Dong? Because $100,000 Vietnamese Dong is $4.80. I have paid more than that for a cup of coffee.

Ha ha...that's $100,000.00 USD or 2 Billion VND

A few more...

Do people have to wear the bicycle crash helmets in case they fall over when they see the prices?

An interesting thread - thanks for it, Bob. And now I'm going to stick my head above the parapet and say there are parallels here in Europe where a Japanese tree could command inflated prices simply because it was Japanese and nothing to do with the quality. (I'm excluding there all the ones which actually were better quality.)

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!!!

That's how expensive those trees are?????!!!

Come to my country Bob, I'll show you some good trees and much matured than those in the photos and the price would be around 90% cheaper!! Same species too.

getting a heart attack,
jun

Gasping for breath.
Thanks for sharing.
Jerry

I have been places in the world where bargaining is expected and you will pay 10 to 20 percent of the starting price.
I enjoy American flea markets for that reason. I suspect boot sales in the UK are similar. Although 10 to 20 thousand dollars is still a lot of money (anywhere but Washington, DC) it is a lot less than the 100 thousand starting price.

That's amazing! Now you've got me wondering, how much was the most expensive tree that you saw?

Chris

Only drug lords,gambling lords and politicians can afford 100000USD for that kind of bonsai, even 10% of the price is too much.

ka pabling

Fiona; they put the helmets on and tend to wear them all day, easier than carrying them around. They also don't sweat like we do, I'd die if I had to wear one when I wasn't riding. In hot weather I wet down my hair, a do-rag and the inside of my helmet -- and -- they think I'm crazy.

Jun and the others; these guys won't bargin at all, that's the price take it or leave it.
Chris; the second tree from the end, the large ficus the guy said $1.2 million USD.

Bob

Hello Bob,,Not heard from you in a long time!!!!! the trees you posted look really good BUT HAVE THE PEOPLE LOST THEIR MIND????? please start posting your trees here..hope all is well...take care john

"the second tree from the end, the large ficus the guy said $1.2 million USD..."

I'd like to see the plants they must be smoking!

Dear Bob

Thank You for sharing !!

Wonderfull !!!
I'm enjoying the penjing very much and happy
to have the privilege to see this beauty.
Kind regards
Morea

Ka Pabling wrote:Only drug lords,gambling lords and politicians can afford 100000USD for that kind of bonsai, even 10% of the price is too much.

ka pabling

Mang Pabling,
You're scaring away my costumer! I am planning to get a 50% commission in selling the trees to Bob...Just kidding.

Regards,
jun




Bob,
1,2000,000USD????????????????????????

What the H_ LL!!! *#@!$%#@!!!

It's ok guys and gals, you have to understand the mindset of the 'new-rich' here. They wear their money on their sleaves or drive it, they have the need to show their buddies how rich they are. I've never spent more than $50 USD for a treee here.

They have ruined the real estate market through speculation and priced each other out of business, several other markets as well. This will go on for a few more years (maybe) then crash too. I have enough trees to keep me busy and one that is finally ready to put in the Tet Display this year, I am looking for one more BIG ficus but it will be dug out in the country and it will be cheap.

Bob

$1.2 million, huh? I think I have some trees I want to sell!

Seriously, did anyone buy any of those > $100,000 trees while you were there?

Chrsi

crazy prices !!!!!!!!!!!.........there isnt even a tree worth 10% of the asking price in the pictures. More importantly though is anyone actually buying them ?

this thread leads me to a thing i've always felt when tree shopping - I very rarely will buy if there are no price tags on the stock - i feel the dealer will make up the price depending on who he thinks you are, the car you pull up in, even if he has a few big bills to pay !

Dealers overpricing the stock to give a false sense of the trees'' value, then offering a discount if you haggle can be off putting to many people - i see lots of people flip a price tag, raise eyebrows and keep on walking - this certainly costs sales to shyer, quieter people.

I like to see a price tag that is close to the right price (10% up to allow a little haggle, or even 20% too high so a long term 'tax free' sale can be advertised).

then off course...........what is the right price, thats the million dollar question haha.... To get a good idea of high quality tree prices I check sites like s-cube, convert the yen etc - then its easy to compare local or internet tree quality for similar trees.

those ficuses are quite stunning but with their ginormous minipond pots, are they still considered a bonsai?

We didn't see any of the really bigger trees sell but we didn't spend more then a few hours there. As I said above...like the real estate market, which has crashed, they believe that it's a sellers market and it is far from that now.

Here any tree in a pot is considered Bonsai and the bigger the better, as is seen in the pictures. About 60% of the sales display was very large trees. Besides, if I had a million just laying around I'd invest in something other than a tree but, that's just me.

Bob

Hi Bob,

How have you been? I hope it is not too wet over there...

$USD 100,000.00 is just on the lower scale. "Reporters" have reported trees that are as high as $USD 1,000,000.00 (one million US dollars!)

"Average" Vietnamese salary is about $USD 700.00 per annum -- just about 90% of the population on the poverty line.

Just imagine this: Mr. Builder needs permit for some big project. His side-kick would sell a tree to Mr. Authority a head of time. A few months later, another side-kick would purchase the tree from Mr. Authority for a huge sum! Mr. Reporter would be given a chance to sing about it. Mr. Builder would get his appropriate permission for his big project. Everybody is happy! Nobody suffers except the public.

What will Mr. Builder do with the fame tree? Probably gives it to one of his side-kicks! He loves Uncle Ben much better

That's Vietnam!

Mr. Trần Thắng (Trần is his surname) in Quãng Ngãi seems to run a more bonsai-like nursery http://www.bonsaiviet.vn/. I just thought you would like to visit there some day

Best regards and take good care of yourself, Bob.

Yes, I realize this and if you read back over the thread many of the larger trees are in the $1,000,000 (that's one million) USD price range. Even the smaller trees (chopped off tops and chopped out of the ground and in a bag) were in the 5 million to 10 million VND price range. It was a trade fair and yes, some of the prices were inflated due to that and, although I am a 'tay' I'm not a stupid one. I have my trees to work on and have some contacts to dig some in the country if I want a few more large ones.

We found out about the prices of the bigger trees while listening to conversations and sending my wife to ask while I hid in the background.

And yes, I read the newspapers here. I was astonished to see what some trees sold for prior to the last two Tet holidays.

Bob

Hi Bob,
Nice to hear from you again
I have heard that they have to use cranes to move their bonsai trees, and those huge price trees are most in the North rather than in the South is it right?

Xuan

Sorry, mistake.

Sorry, mistake.