Maybe I sneezed a little early, assuming 25/18F was a bit to cold to be w/o heat pack.
Plant in question is pushing out at least 3 new roots, and leaves feel 'not floppy' any more. Much more hardy than I assumed.
They are indeed very hardy little plants.
Although these shipping issues with this particular seller do concern me, I have to admit I've not lost any plants due to bitter cold/subfreezing weather during times of shipping. :clap: Overall I am a very satisfied customer.
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To answer Papaholic, I would have to say "I don't know" in regards to your question about the pricing of awarded Neos. Awarded Neos in USA are few and far between as far as I know. Being awarded may very well impact the price of a plant, but I think the rarity of a variety, its position/ranking on the annual Meikan chart, the maturity/size/condition of the plant in question and whether it is a division, clone or seedling of the registered named variety will have much more influence on its price than any history of being awarded.
I say this because, all things being relative, many Neos are already very expensive. I can't imagine someone charging $5000 instead of $500 for a nice-sized 'Unkai' plant just because it had been awarded. They might charge $750, $1000, or maybe even $1500 for "an otherwise $500 plant", but I think a tenfold increase in price is unlikely. I wouldn't pay any such extra premium anyway unless
1) I was purchasing the entire original plant which had been very recently awarded or a division of it which had been grown to comparable quality, size and condition as the original awarded parent plant and could therefore be considered as being an exceptionally nice specimen, or
2) the award was particularly prestigious, maybe even having been earned at an especially famous venue and the documented recipient had been someone famous or well-known with prestige within the community of orchidists, or
3) the plant had some consistently special feature above and beyond other plants of the same variety, a feature or set of features such as larger flower size, deeper flower color, more flowers per spike, higher than average frequency of blooming, improved vigor, better than average variegation and so forth. Even these things, however, could easily be the results of very good culture by the grower (including factors such as altitude, better than average lighting or a unique fertilizer system) rather than being the products of genetic superiority of the plant in question. Again, I would be hesitant to pay the higher price unless I was specifically looking for a particularly beautifully grown specimen plant. To anyone who thinks differently: please feel free to correct me on this if you feel I am wrong.
I also believe, in the case of 'All Nippon-registered' varieties, good culture, form and presentation would be most important when showing a plant in hopes of garnering an award.
