TOP 5 Most Expensive Wood in the World

Have you ever wonder how expensive wood can be? Did you know that some types of wood are more expensive than diamonds? Wood is an important part of nearly everything we build and design. For instance, people are making furniture from relatively commonplace wood, but also they are making some pieces from wood that is extremely hard to find or to work with.

We made a list of 5 world’s most expensive wood so that next time you’ll know why some pieces of furniture are unique.

Discover now:

1. MPINGO or African Blackwood
2. Agar Wood
3. Ebony or Black Timber
4. Sandalwood
5. Pink Ivory

1. MPINGO or African Blackwood

Did you know that the national tree of Tanzania, Mpingo is one of the most expensive timbers in the world? People are often calling him “the music tree”, and that’s probably due to its high density, fine texture and exceptional durability which make him the perfect wood for musical instruments.

Mpingo, the East African Blackwood tree, is used to make clarinets and oboes and is the medium of choice for local wood carvers. Moreover, people from Tanzania are using Blackwood to make pestles, knife handles and supports for buildings and in house construction.

2. Agar Wood

People have been traded Agarwood, the “Wood of the Gods” for thousands of years. Most importantly, they are using the resinous wood as incense or for medicinal purposes. Additionally, people are using pure resin in distilled form as an essential oil as well as a perfume component.

When the tree is healthy, agarwood has a light or pale colour, but when it is infected by a disease, the process of infection creates a response to the attack resulting in a very dark and incredibly aromatic resin known as oleoresin. Besides perfume and oil, local people are using agarwood for small carvings.

3. Ebony or Black Timber

From equatorial Africa, Ebony or Black Timber is usually found in wet lowlands near rivers and swaps. Devoid of colour, Ebony has ink black with lighter streaks. But only a small percentage of trees produce the highest quality jet black colour.

However, people are using ebony blackwood for charcoal, native carvings, combs, needles, cups and knife handles. Because of its high density, texture and waxiness, it is ideal for the production of woodwind musical instruments like clarinets and is a superior wood for holding the metal fittings of guitar fretboards.

4. Sandalwood

Sandalwood is a unique native tree crop, grown for its high-value aromatic heartwood. Above all, the wood is heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic kinds of wood, they retain their fragrance for decades.

Certainly, you can make a wide variety of articles from sandalwoods, such as boxes, cabinet panels, jewel cases, combs, picture frames, hand fans, pen holders, card cases letter openers and bookmarks. Sandalwood plants exhibit significant variability for many traits. Bark varies in colour, texture and thickness.

5. Pink Ivory

Pink Ivory is a native tree of Southern Africa that you can found from Zimbabwe in the North to the Eastern Cape in the South. The trees grow up to 15 meters tall with a dense and round crown. Furthermore, the heartwood ranges from light pink to a dark red colour, the sapwood is yellowish.

The most valuable pieces of Pink Ivory are a vibrant pink and can commonly be seen with a curly or fiddleback grain pattern, further enhancing its visual impact. Pink Ivory trees are said to be both rare and valuable, and have been rumoured to be “rarer than diamonds.”

Aren’t they so unique and beautiful? Wood is such a beautiful material given by nature and we think they worth every penny. Just think about all those unique pieces of furniture that can be made out of wood. If you are a wood lover too, enjoy our wood lamps collection and shop online!