Black Ebony, known as the “million dollar tree”, is one of the most expensive woods in the world. It is extremely dense and actually sinks in water. The grain is tight and smooth, and can be polished to a mirror finish. It has not only cosmetic but medicinal purposes, with anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Kings used to drink from ebony cups because they believed it would counteract poison. Gabon Ebony from western Africa is the heaviest wood in the world. This great density is achieved by painfully slow growth, taking as much as 200 years for a tree to reach maturity. Unfortunately, extensive logging over the last 100 years exacerbated by their inability to replenish quickly have landed these trees at the very top of the IUCN list of endangered plant species. There are alternatives but most any that come close in quality are also endangered for the same reasons.