I'm certainly no expert on wood at all, but I did just buy some bois de rose from ebay seller That Burly Guy, mr.-promo. I haven't done anything with the blanks yet, but I can tell you they are beautiful. The ones I got are actually a little bit darker overall than what I expected based on the ebay pixs that were up when I bought it (item 8220874537), but to me this makes them even more appealing. They were more similar as far as light/dark, to what he has listed now, item 8225359522, but you might want to look at the first item number I mentioned, b/c I think it shows the actual grain and patterns of the blanks a little better than his current picture. I held one of my blanks up to an enlarged picture of the pen above made by dcbluesman, and it looks like an identical match, and also a good match to the bottle stoppers shown. If you were looking at buying it from that seller, since he sells it individually, that gives you a nice chance to buy a couple and not have to buy a large set, to be srue you like it. I can say that it is MUCH more attractive than any rosewood I have seen in person or in pictures!