I can not attest to the quality of wood. However, Woodcraft has 1 X 1 X 12 inch blanks of Kingwood on sale for $5.99. I bought 5 blanks that fairly nice grain patterns to it.
I bought some 8-10 years ago from a friend who managed an exotic wood store.
He gave me a heads up the store was going under. Even on closeout sale, that stuff was nosebleed expensive.