This custom “One of a Kind” Keepsake box is made from PERNAMBUCO Guilandina echinata (syn Caesalpinia echinata)of the family Leguminosae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae), the legume or pea family This Latin American wood (mostly from Brazil) is also called pau Brazil and Brazil Wood (and a LARGE number of other common names). It is from this wood that the country of Brazil got its name. The simplistic version of that story (totally untrue, I've been told) is that Portuguese invaders asked a group of natives "what is the name of this country", gesticulating widely with their hands to show they mean a wide area. The natives thought they were asking, "what is the name of the beautiful trees in this forest?" It has pointed out to me that this story is nonsensical since the natives would NOT have called the wood "Brazil" or anything close to that but rather would have called it "ibirapitanga" (meaning "red tree") which was the name of the tree before the Portugese starting calling it brazilwood. The country DID get its modern name from the Portugese name for the tree, but not from the natives. It's the kind of story that SOUNDS true and so becomes widespread and takes on the trappings of truth by the frequent retelling. Pernambuco is first choice for bows as It offers perfect resistance, strength, and springiness for violin (and all stringed instruments) bows. The names pernambuco and Brazil wood are widely misapplied to several unrelated woods from Latin America and even from Asia, so you have to be careful what you are getting. It is hard and heavy and can be somewhat difficult to work, but is stable in service and takes a high polish. The frequent orange color deepens and turns redder with age. The inlays on front and back edges are Ebony.  Ebony, MACASSAR EBONY (Diospyros celebica) is one of a group of ebonies from the East Indies, ranging from Sri Lanka to Indonesia. This close- grained, heavy hardwood machines and turns well, but tends to dull tools and is difficult to glue. Ebony is used for turned and carved items, inlays and small accent pieces. This wood is so expensive, that they sell it by the pound. This Chest was build so the grain "wraps" around the Chest and matches on all four corners, matching three is easy, but matching four took me a long time to figure out. This is a unique "One-of-a-Kind Keepsake box" signed and dated. All my Keepsake boxes get 6 to 8 coats of polyurethane oil finish that is "Hand Rubbed" to give them the best finish possible. There is a small lift out tray.