Hello guys,

I was doing my usual scan on eBay looking for some good deals. I found the variety mentioned above for auction by 'willscfigs'. I didn't see any pictures of the fruit, cut fruit etc on the auction. The seller describes as follows
" Black Beauty 10 is a VERY rare variety that has been sought after for many years but was being held tightly by just one grower.  It has finally found its way out and will be in high demand.   It is a very "unique and incredible" tasting fig and a very healthy cultivar.  That is a milk crate the leaf is sitting on in the picture, just huge leaves. This variety is destined to be "one of the very best".  

My questions are
1, what did the seller mean by ' it was tightly held' , if so by who exactly?
2, And he also says 'it found its way out'. How?
3, Finally is this the same 'Will C' the founder of our figs ?, if so I will blindly believe his words. But the above two questions remain as I'm one of the bidder and want to know if it's the same BB-10 discovered by dan.

Cheers

Have you tried asking the seller these questions? I understand that he could just make up some garbage to tell you, but I was just wondering if you asked, and what he said. Sounds intriguing though.

I see that there is another seller offering the same fig on ebay. If it "just made its way out" and there already 2 sellers offering them, I would just wait a year for the price to drop. I'm sure that by next year there will be a dozen sellers offering this "very rare" variety.

Here is the person who says they "discovered" this fig. It appears to be just an unknown.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Black-Beauty-10-5440878

Hi Vinny :) the Wills selling BB10 is indeed WillsC from ourfigs.. They are surely the real deal as well. The reason he refers to them as" tightly held" is bc of the way this variety was literally held onto so tightly by Dan from Louisiana. Hope that helps some :)

It is Wills from "the other forum"
It is rare
It is closely held
It is a great fig says good friend who has one

Do a Google search on "Black Beauty Fig"  Loads of info

If historical posts are to be believed, there is only one original source for the BB10 which is an unknown but considered high quality cultivar and that is Dan. Dan had discovered the plant which was likely either a sport / mutation of a known or unknown variety or the result of natural pollination / cross between two naturally occurring figs in the discovery area. Regardless, the BB10, as it was named, was, according to his own assessment, above and beyond in terms of quality. How the BB10 came out of Dan's private holding and into wider distribution is unknown but once the genie was out of the bottle several more folks acquired it. One of those second line folks then made it available to others and became the common source for the plants and cuttings now finally being made available to other enthusiasts on ebay. The current offerings on ebay are by Wills from OurFigs and by Dave who is a member here and on OurFigs. Both are highly respected and trustworthy sources of figs and there are not many that would dispute the authenticity of the figs that they are providing on ebay. There are a few others that also have the BB10, including "pukzpukz" who is a member of both fig forums as well as on Rafed's FB and who recently posted that he will be doing a benefit auction for a BB10 plant from his own inventory in late winter as well as making cuttings available some time after that. I believe that Pukzpukz also posted that his source for the BB10 was the same as the others. Pukzpukz also frequently sells figs and other plants on ebay and is very involved in the LSU fig research and development program; I believe that all of the LSU varieties, either formally released or still under review are his specialty. In any case, those are the three sources of BB10 that I am aware of; I am one of the actively engaged and interested bidders on ebay for this variety as I have no qualms about the authenticity of the cultivar and consider the sellers to be of the highest order and trust worthiness. There are F4F members who sell varieties on ebay, including BM, whose names are synonymous with value, integrity, quality and generosity; we all know who they are and we look forward to their auctions and bid on their inventory without concern, I personally have bought quite a bit from them myself, these BB10 sellers are on the same order as far as I am concerned.

Sounds like a really nice fig, there may be a lot more trees out there, maybe friends or neighbors of the owner of the original tree received cuttings from the Baton Rouge mother tree and are not members of the forum and do not know the value of what they have.

This is an interesting thread of the find by Dan. Great fig, hope to get one some day as do many other members. Good luck with the auctions, two good fig people.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/fmv-free-black-ischia-fig-discovered-in-louisiana-5395455?highlight=baton+rouge&pid=1284317120

Thanks a lot for all the replies and happy new year everyone from UK.

Happy New Year all! Best wishes for a healthy, happy, prosperous and fruitful 2017 New Year AND HAPPY FIG HUNTING!!!!

Yes All the ones that have Listed The BB-10 on eBay Wills Dave have this rare Fig so no worries and this will be in high demand for a long period of time everyone wanted this from Dan and now that it is available I see the demand  going up. I really want to Thank CajunB Brain for the research and his time he has spent on this one it is awesome.    

I do think if you ask WillsC he got the BB-10 from CajunB and Not Dan

Here is a Link https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/114357-dan-s-black-beauty-10  WillsC is thanking Brain so the rumors would be false

I agree with you Babylon, I can understand where you are coming from as far as assumptions go, beginnings of a rumor. Wills deserves better. But what I can't understand is why you would all of a sudden sign up on F4F and start causing havoc with James when you do not know the whole situation with his project. It seems to be a great coincidence that you know a lot about OurFigs, Dan, BB10, Wills and other things. Why haven't you mentioned James venture on OurFigs? You said that you can't give your real name, is that because you were a past member under another forum name and have come back to troll? Really, both forums are great forums with outstanding members so why would you come over here to cause problems that you would not post on the OurFigs forum? It's not nice.

It is such a shame that this forum has become a cesspool!

The rumors, assumption, mud slinging and slander...  the majority of you should be ashamed.

Slam me all you want children, I'm done here. 

It's time to move on folks. There are plenty of other black figs out there.

How but those figs????