Funny story. I'm the one you bought it from. Here is its whole story. I got it as part of an exchange deal with a guy I was getting amboyna burl from whose family lived in southeast asia. When his brother would go out and harvest amboyna and afzelia burl caps he would sometimes get a little extra from the tree, or cut a little too deep. Anywho, that is exactly what this piece is. I believe the best classification you could give it would be Narra wood or even curly Narra ( I believe a couple of those pieces in this lot were curly). Now I can't promise you on a stack of bibles that is exactly what this is, but much of the story fits. The wood is sufficiently dense to be Narra and the coloring is consistent with Narra wood and most important this is the story that I got from the guy who gave it to me when I asked. I hope this helps. I had made a couple of pens from it and really liked how well it polished up. Hopefully you are enjoying using it.