Huanghuali

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Chasper

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A few months back I read here about Huanghuali and the claim that it was an extremely rare wood and that $100 per blank was a bargin. Being a natural skeptic about rare products from China I asked my export broker in Hong Kong to look for some Huanghuali. At the time I couldn't imagine that it could possibly cost more than a buck or two for a pen blank. Finally I got some samples and a quote. The two samples are beautiful, I'm shocked that they were free, and the quote was for $2100 per kilo. I haven't weighed the samples, but I'm guessing that that comes down to about $150-$200 per pen blank. I don't think I'm going to be buying any.

Apparently it is true, it is rare and valuable.
 
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I think what it makes it so rare is that you can only get pieces from antique furniture. My understanding is that the wood is extinct but I could be wrong.
 
It's not extinct, but is hard to find and the trees are too small/few for commercial uses now (they are very slow growing).


The couple pieces I have I call Huali. Huang was added to the word to indicate the patina that the Ming era furniture has obtained. Since the wood is available from non-furniture sources in Laos and Vietnam, I think it's safer to call it Huali unless you get it from Dave and know its from Ming furniture. The pieces I have, look very much like the piece from Thialand shown in the link below. (I need to ask my co-workers to look for some when they are overseas, we work a lot in SE Asia)


http://www.chinese-furniture.com/cg...huali.html&id=1083321053-222.65.104.212-28283
 
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Russianwolf said:
It's not extinct, but is hard to find and the trees are too small/few for commercial uses now (they are very slow growing).


I think it's safer to call it Huali unless you get it from Dave and know its from Ming furniture.
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I don't want to start this debate again and I do like and respect Dave, but, he does not have the monopoly on the subject or exclusive rights to it and there are many other sources to obtain the furniture pieces besides Dave.
 
Russianwolf said:
It's not extinct, but is hard to find and the trees are too small/few for commercial uses now (they are very slow growing).


I think it's safer to call it Huali unless you get it from Dave and know its from Ming furniture.
Click to expand...
I don't want to start this debate again and I do like and respect Dave, but, he does not have the monopoly on the subject or exclusive rights to it and there are many other sources to obtain the furniture pieces besides Dave.
 
hunter-27 said:
I don't want to start this debate again and I do like and respect Dave, but, he does not have the monopoly on the subject or exclusive rights to it and there are many other sources to obtain the furniture pieces besides Dave.
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I agree

I have been not been in the UK for a while and will go out again in September needless to say I have been collecting some wood samples if any of youze would like some HHL or Jichimu or Tzutan just hollar and I will put some up in the listings

:biggrin:
 
I did buy from Dave. I also did a little homework (as in not a lot) So I am no specialist. But I did find out that some of it is even more valuable than others. Mostly in the grain styles etc. But regardless, I remember seeing prices on pieces in the multiple of thousands of dollars. My final impression was how would you ever find anything that could be sold for even $100 a blank. the numbers just did not compute because I could not see being able to cut a table or parts thereof into enough pieces to be able to sell them that low. I was also left with the impression that there has to be a huge amount of effort just to locate these pieces. by the way a kilo is 2.2 lbs. I have a block of Cocobolo about that big and would be pretty hard pressed to get 16 blanks out of it. maybe 20 if they where on the smallish side.
 
okay, change the "and" to "or" and it should satisfy the critics. I type fast and misspell many words and use a word off from what I'm trying to say on many occasions. I was not trying to imply that Dave is the "Only" source, but that you have to be very careful in where you source a wood from.
 
Rarest wood said:
A sharp tongue is no indication of a keen mind.:biggrin:
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Wow, what brought that on?

I was just referring to the whole mess over this wood and what is real, what isn't, what is fake, what isn't, who sells real wood, who sells fake, who is the authority, who isn't. Before it died down several months ago there was a LOT of "behind the scenes" messaging going on with a LOT of slanderous accusations flying around, some of which were pretty pointed and pretty sad!

That's all I was referring too, nothing more and I just hope all that doesn't get started again.
 
What I was refering to in my original post was since the wood is still available as new growth (though still rare and limited supply), and HuangHuali is usually used to reference wood from the Ming era furniture, that if you aren't completely sure that your pieces are from old furniture, or another period source, you are probably safer calling it Huali which is the name the wood was refered by until the 1800's I believe.

Huang was used to differenciate the patinaed wood in Ming furniture from new growth that didn't have the patina.
 
Here's the trick-----I buy my HHL from Dave----not only because it's real but because he knows the history of the wood----so far I have sold 3 pens made from Dave's wood---one this weekend. When I sell a HHL pen----the eagle screams.
 
Hey Gary,

Any chance of seeing a pic or two, and maybe a ballpark on what you charged?
I am pretty new here so I'm not sure if it's ok to ask you this, so sorry if I do something wrong :(

This is the first cat fight that I've seen on this site so far, and I surly don't want to get in the middle of it.

Thanks,

Tom/oops99
 
I think this is an interesting conversation that will help get some
info out for the newer members, and some like myself who don't always
catch things the first go around.
And is just where it belongs...CASUAL conversation!
Let's keep it that way.:smile:
 
oops99 said:
Hey Gary,

Any chance of seeing a pic or two, and maybe a ballpark on what you charged?
I am pretty new here so I'm not sure if it's ok to ask you this, so sorry if I do something wrong :(

This is the first cat fight that I've seen on this site so far, and I surly don't want to get in the middle of it.

Thanks,

Tom/oops99
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Click on the "2" next to photos under my avatar. I have two blanks from Dave that I haven't turned yet. They are $500 dollar pens.
 
oops99 said:
Hey Gary,

Any chance of seeing a pic or two, and maybe a ballpark on what you charged?
I am pretty new here so I'm not sure if it's ok to ask you this, so sorry if I do something wrong :(

This is the first cat fight that I've seen on this site so far, and I surly don't want to get in the middle of it.

Thanks,

Tom/oops99
Click to expand...

I don't do cat fights ------I sell pens
 
I've made 3 like this one, one was used in a swap on Eagles forum, one was sold for $700 and I have one for sale, have also sold two Retros for $450 and one Jr. Statesman for $530 so yes they will bring top dollar:cool:.
image0-1.jpg
 
Rarest wood said:
I agree

I have been not been in the UK for a while and will go out again in September needless to say I have been collecting some wood samples if any of youze would like some HHL or Jichimu or Tzutan just hollar and I will put some up in the listings

:biggrin:
Click to expand...

I'd like to see what you have.
 
I'm all for buy what you can sell. If it's worth $100 and you have the market for it, go for it. I can't sell an emperor pen in my area with a $100 blank and a case for $500. If I could though, I sure would, but that's just a matter of location and economy for this area. I think I'm going to send all my best pens to Roy!:biggrin:
 
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