/me shakes head...
You know...when floridans talk about what mangos rule the roost, many of the same ole same ole mangos keep popping up, despite the manias for some new variety or other...Carrie, Dot, Edward, etc. Has there been any change to the idea that El Bumpo is the best cherimoya? No? The most awesome Artocarpus is pretty much still Pedalai (unfortunately I killed my poor plant in the early 2ks--could have sold that one for *serious* change, heh, heh, heh, or not). If you have that frost free spring (but temperate) climate for it, are there better idea than Blemheim or Moorpark apricots?
Most of the best and most reliable varieties are pretty common. Given that figs are easy to propagate, and that most people do not truly have space for 40 figs or so, pretty soon, in less than about five years (hopefully nothing bad happens as economy/society progress as they should), it will get pretty easy for anyone to pick out a good fig for their climate or four. Not least that the best figs that are still rare will probably be common and cheap in a few years. Even so, most figs are available as cuttings from the experimental orchard outside Davis.
It is simply absurd to get upset about how much some such and such fig is super-expensive. If your ego is about having the fig that rules all the gullets, then probably your ego is fed best by overpaying for figs. I know that my fig probably isn't the best tasting or whatever, but boy oh boy it's pretty good, and it has wound up to be the most successful and carefree of the fruit trees we have planted. It's not as if Keiffer pears are the tastiest pears, for all that they are reliable here. I'm grateful, and I read about the best of the best, because it's fun to drool and fantasize--I don't have any money and I don't truly own any land. Other people are similarly limited. Maybe someone will give me something nice (and I can keep it)...or not. But nobody should be complaining about the *cost* of some super duper rare fig. This is pretty basic, and it's a derivative of the "If you have to ask how much it is, it's too expensive for you."
Hmmm, I think I should say one more thing. Knowing what I know from puerh tea, usually the *best* things are not the *most expensive*. People tend to pay a lot of money for the simulation of refinement, while those in the know pay a bit less for actual refinement since they club with the others who know what's up, and tea merchants take out the actual nice stuff from behind the counter for such company. Those of you who are actually serious about enjoying figs and not bragging about them, y'all get together, nosh on a few figs, talk about fishing, head out to the bar/restaurant, and do other stuff, and you're around when serendipity happens, and someone brings in something really neat, and you know to pay a little much money, but well worth it money for that opportunity.