Would have cost me 89 flaccid British Pounds but I got a couple of pounds knocked off on account of the mislabelling and being kind enough to point out a few other mislabelled specimens at the place. A quick calculation shows that this works out at being a little less than 110 USD so either this was a great deal or Ebay is a rip off.
Either way it's a lovely plant and it seemed to have the most vibrant meristem of the specimens available. There are only 4 visible annual growth marks so it's possible it's a cutting from a much larger plant. Here's to it growing another 18" in the next 4 years anyhow!
βThere is a way of manipulating matter and energy so as to produce what modern scientists call 'a field of force'. The field acts on the observer and puts him in a privileged position vis-à-vis the universe. From this position he has access to the realities which are ordinarily hidden from us by time and space, matter and energy. This is what we call the Great Work."
β Jacques Bergier, quoting Fulcanelli