Association of Art and Antique Dealers
International Confederation of Traders in Works of Art
Materials - Wood
Amboyna
Amboyna is a marvellously luxurious burl from the tree that is commonly known as Narra. Some reports say that the name Amboyna only applies to the veneer made from the burl, but if so that rule is honoured only in the breech since all the dealers I am aware of refer to both the solid burl pieces and the veneer as Amboyna or Amboyna burl, but not narra burl.
Amboyna is a rare, exotic hardwood that grows in Southeast Asia and has a fragrant aroma. It can vary in colour from yellow to golden brown to red, and is generally considered excellent for both turning and finishing.
Boxwood
The wood of the box plant. Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box (majority of English-speaking countries) or boxwood (North America).
Boxes are commonly used for hedges and topiary. Owing to the relatively high density of the wood (it is one of the few woods that is denser than water), boxwood is often used for chess pieces. Wooden chess sets almost always use boxwood for the white pieces and commonly use stained ("ebonized") boxwood for the black pieces.
Burr wood
A burl (British bur or burr) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds. Burls are the product of a cambium. A burl results from a tree undergoing some form of stress.
Burls yield a very peculiar and highly figured wood, one prized for its beauty by many; its rarity also adds to its expense. It is sought after by people such as furniture makers, artists, and wood sculptors. There are a number of well-known types of burls; each from a particular species; such as burr Elm or burr walnut. These are highly valued and used as veneers in furniture, picture frames, household objects, automobile interior paneling and trim, and woodturning.
Camphor
Camphor wood comes from the camphor laurel, a large evergreen tree found in Asia (particularly in Borneo and Taiwan). Camphor itself is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odour. Camphor is believed to be toxic to insects and was widely used as a repellant . Camphor wood was often used in the 18th & 19th centuries for travelling trunks due to its repellant properties, so that peoples belongings were not damaged in transit by insects.
Coromandel
Coromandel wood is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and South East Asia. Coromandel is a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or vice versa), very heavy and hard. It is also known as striped ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus. It is used in furniture and for sculpture.
Ebony
Ebony heartwood is one of the most intensely black woods known, which, combined with its very high density (it is one of the very few woods that sink in water), fine texture, and ability to polish very smoothly, has made it very valuable as an ornamental wood.
Ebony (Diospyros ebenum), also known as India Ebony or Ceylon Ebony depending on its origin, is a tree in the genus Diospyros, native to southern India and Sri Lanka. It is noted for its heavy black, fine-grained heartwood. This slow growing tree is native to dry and intermediate zones.
Elm
Elm wood was valued for its interlocking grain, and consequent resistance to splitting, with significant uses in wheels, chair seats and coffins. The wood is also resistant to decay when permanently wet, and hollowed trunks were widely used as water pipes during the medieval period in Europe.
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus, family Ulmaceae, found throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Siberia to Indonesia, Mexico to Japan.
Fruitwood
Wood of various fruit trees (apple, cherry, pear etc) used especially in cabinetwork.
Common uses of fruitwoods include specialised crafted furniture, decorative work and musical instruments. Fruitwoods mainly originate from Europe and countries with temperate climates.
Hardwood
The term hardwood designates wood from broad-leaved (mostly deciduous, but not necessarily, in the case of tropical trees) or angiosperm trees. Hardwood contrasts with softwood, which comes from conifer trees. On average, hardwood is of higher density and hardness than softwood, but there is considerable variation in actual wood hardness in both groups, with a large amount of overlap; some hardwoods (e.g. balsa) are softer than most softwoods, while yew is an example of a hard softwood.
Hardwoods have broad leaves and enclosed nuts or seeds such as acorns. They often grow in subtropical regions like Africa and also in Europe and other regions such as Asia. The dominant feature separating hardwoods from softwoods is the presence of pores, or vessels.
Jacaranda
Jacaranda wood is a timber originating from the any of severaltropical American trees or shrubs of the genus. Jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The genus name is also used as the common name. Jacaranda trees grow prominently is Brisbane, Australia and Pretoria in South Africa, where their falling flowers are thought to be omens of good luck for university students.
Kingwood
Sometimes mistaken for rosewood, this West Indian timber is a purple colour when freshly cut although it fades to greyish brown. Used mainly for cross banding. Dalbergia cearensis, a smallish tree restricted to a small area in Brazil is also known as Kingwood and is a classic furniture wood.
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored wood, originally the wood of the species swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban Mahogany. Mahogany is also the national tree of Dominican Republic.
Mahogany has a generally straight grain and is usually free of voids and pockets. It has a reddish-brown colour which darkens over time, and displays a beautiful reddish sheen when polished. It has excellent workability, and is very durable and slow to rot.
Oak
The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus (from Latin "oak tree"). The genus is native to the northern hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species 
extending from cold latitudes to tropical Asia and the Americas.
Oak wood has a density of about 0.75 g/cm³, great strength and hardness, and is very resistant to insect and fungal attack because of its high tannin content. It also has very attractive grain markings, particularly when quarter-sawn. Oakwood is still commonly used for furniture making and flooring, timber frame buildings, and for veneer production.
Rosewood
Rosewood refers to a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker 
veining but found in many different colors. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for flooring, furniture, turnery, musical instruments, billiard cues, and chess sets (the black pieces).
In general, supplies are poor through overexploitation. Some species become canopy trees (to 30 m high), and big pieces can occasionally be found in the trade.
Satinwood
Satinwood is a name for a wood that can be polished to a high gloss, in particular two woods, from the flowering plant family Rutaceae.
The wood produced by the Chloroxylon swietenia tree is often a golden colour with a reflective sheen. It is used for small luxury items and as a veneer in wooden furniture. It is one of the best-known satinwoods. It is native to southern India and Sri Lanka.
Walnut
Walnuts (genus Juglans) are plants in the family Juglandaceae. They are deciduous trees, 10 - 40 metres tall (about 30-130 ft.)
The walnut wood colour ranges from creamy white in the sapwood to a dark chocolate colour in the heartwood. When kiln-dried, walnut wood tends toward a dull brown colour, but when air-dried can become a rich purplish-brown. Because of its colour, hardness and grain it is a prized furniture and carving wood.
Walnut burls (or 'burrs' in Europe) are commonly used to create bowls and other turned pieces. Veneer sliced from walnut burl is one of the most valuable and highly prized by cabinet makers and prestige car manufacturers. Walnut wood has been the timber of choice for gun makers for centuries, including the Lee Enfield rifle of the First World War.
Yew wood
Yew wood is reddish brown (with whiter sapwood), and is very springy. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the longbow. Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m.