Photo Credit: Artios
Handcrafted Curly Maple & Brazilian Rosewood Jewelry Box
Asking Price: $565 (price as of 2018; item no longer available)
Pros:
-This luxuriously handcrafted curly maple and Brazilian rosewood jewelry box is adorned with eye-catching abalone and ebony ornamental details. In addition, the underlying structure of the box is made from solid Honduran Mahogany, which provides an attractive and stable base for the applied exotic hardwood veneers.
-This jewelry box measures 13 inches (32.5 cm) long by 8 inches (20.5 cm) wide by 3.75 inches (9.5 cm) deep.
-The solid brass hardware used in this Brazilian rosewood jewelry box is sourced from either U.S. or U.K. manufacturers to ensure the highest possible quality.
-Brazilian rosewood timber has a rich, deep reddish-brown color that contrasts sharply with its black-marbled grain pattern for a truly striking appearance. Because of these qualities, Brazilian rosewood is one of the most desirable and expensive tropical hardwoods in the world.
-This Brazilian rosewood jewelry box was made in North Carolina by Michael Kranz, a woodworking artist who spent many years in the high end furniture industry before founding his own company, Artios, Inc.
-Curly maple is a variety of maple timber that is renowned for the subtly striped pattern it exhibits when quartersawn. Its appearance is so characteristic that it is also known in the woodworking industry as tiger maple or flame maple. Curly maple is in such high demand from woodworkers that nearly all available material is cut into thin veneer rather than left as standard thickness boards.
-I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of fine hardwood boxes. And I must say, this Brazilian rosewood jewelry box is among the best of the best. In fact, I think that Michael Kranz’s pieces may just be the very finest exotic hardwood boxes that I have ever seen. Absolutely every detail of his woodworking is perfect.
-According to the Artois website, the production run of this superb hardwood box is limited to no more than 250 examples. A work of art with a limited number of copies will generally be more valuable than one with an unlimited number.
-Although it is advertised as a jewelry box, this exotic hardwood box is quite versatile. For example, you could store keepsakes, bullion, vintage watches or even rare coins in this woodworking masterpiece.
-Because of its superb materials and impeccable workmanship, I feel that the $565 asking price for this Brazilian rosewood jewelry box is easily justified.
Cons:
-There is no way around it; this hardwood jewelry box is expensive! But it is also among the finest of its type. I have discovered over the years that it is often better to pay up for the best of the best when dealing with fine art, rather than trying to save a few bucks on lesser quality works.
-Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is an endangered species that is listed in Appendix I of the international CITES treaty. As a result, rosewood timber can’t be sold, traded or moved across international borders except under exceptional circumstances. Therefore, this Brazilian rosewood jewelry box (which uses legally-harvested, pre-treaty rosewood) can only be sold and shipped to an address in the United States.
-This jewelry box is made with curly maple and Brazilian rosewood veneers instead of using all solid woods. But there are a couple mitigating factors. First, the leather-lined interior tray is constructed from solid curly maple. Second, Brazilian rosewood is now so rare that loggers are salvaging stumps from trees that were originally harvested decades ago (which is legal because the trees are long dead). So I see the use of exotic wood veneers in a jewelry box of this caliber as a very minor drawback.
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