My $0.02 ...

Get yourself a common maple seedling. One in a one gallon can/pot will do.
Perhaps a plain ordinary green maple that is much less expensive. Then
locate someone/someplace with the fancy maple you want and ask them for some
prunings whenever that tree gets pruned...hopefully during winter or very
early spring. Take the prunings and graft them onto your common maple about
3 - 6 inches above the ground. Care for it as you would any other plant and
voila...the maple you want! Of course it takes time - another clear case of
"time vs. money".

"griffon" wrote in message
...

I wanted to buy a Japanese maple to add to my rather pathetic maple
garden (three Japanese, a "flame" amur maple, a vine maple) but the
tree was about one hundred dollars more than the much larger dogwood
and equal-size sourwood combined. Along with all of those unusual and
lovely evergreens that are three hundred dollars at two feet of
height, all but the most common Japanese maples are just too expensive
for my taste. When you can buy a couple dozen shrubs for the price of
one shrub or tree, it just doesn't make sense to go for the single
item.