For me it's relative. a "10" is relative to what's already in the Gallery. Not a lot of "Bonsai Today" trees in there. I don't think there are any of Walter's works in there.
Until about a month ago it was a five-point system. There were quite a lot of 4s and 5s that translated to 8s and 10s under the new system on a scale of 10.
I don't give a lot of 10s. I don't believe I have ever given a 1, but there are probably a few trees in there that deserve 1.
So, I do see it as a sliding scale and it's certainly a relative one.
One main consideration:
How sophisticated are the judges? Many might not ever have seen "9" or "10" scale trees as you're defining them, Fred Probably they've been exposed to the 4 and 5 in person and perhaps the 6 in many of the beginner books. That sort of makes an 8 look like a 10.
Once you've seen trees of the quality that are in Andy's Worlds .02, especially in person, most everything else would be a 5 or lower. Those trees are just off our charts. Anyway, we'll probably worry about this more when Kimura and Kobayashi post more of their trees.
Regards,
Matt