Fred,
Nice post. I am glad you are finding great joy in your hobby of Bonsai.
I too agree with your observation of the percieved widening gap between
"average" trees and near "masters". They are out there, and I am sure many of the forum members have some. A look through the galleries gives me something to strive for with my own trees. I myself, know to several people who have "great" trees but never put them into shows or post pictures on forums.
This is a great shame, since particularly with regard to security, I believe the growth of internet Bonsai sites such as this - SHOULD bring more of these quality trees out into the public domain, without fear of anyone knowing there exact location !!!
As time goes on, Bonsai becomes more popular, raw material is harder to collect (certainly here in the UK), and any "tree of stature" will either remain with its current owner or be sold at a high price !
There comes a time when you have to decide "wait" and develop your own (many years) or stop buying trees at a certain level and accept that to obtain some of the best you have to part with some "serious cash".
When that happens - I think we then realise we have become committed to the hobby !!!
Best regards,
Ian.