I'll admit to purchasing one plant of Phal. gigantea for $100
circa 1985. Died a few months later. Interestingly, in retrospect it was
clearly a plant propagated from seed, or grown in cultivation for a very
long time indeed. As the dealer had a number of plants of strikingly
similar size, I suspect they were seed-grown. They were big, too- mine was
with a leaf span of about 16". Still far from blooming, of couse.

Now, the BEST money I ever spent on orchids was ~$20 on a seedling
of Trichocentrum tigrinum circa 1984 from G&B Orchid Labs. Now I have
several of them. :-)

-AJHicks
The Orchid Seedbank
Chandler, AZ