Coromandel: also known as Makassar Ebony, is variegated, streaky brown and black, nearly always wide striped. It is considered a highly valuable wood for turnery, fine cabinet work and joinery.
The tree grows up to 20 meters under favourable circumstances, although such trees are rarely seen nowadays. Since Coromandel ebony has been a woodworkers favourite for centuries, most of it has been felled and used in high quality furniture. The natural area of distribution are some Indonesian islands. As this exceptionally beautiful species of the Ebonies has been much appreciated by woodworkers all over the world through the past two centuries it has now become a very scarce and expensive timber. The small available amounts on the market have led to very high prices, Makassar ebony nowadays belongs to the highest priced timbers on the world, the region of growth is quite restricted. This is a very nice example in this rare wood.