Trade name: Makassar/Macassar; Ebony, Makassar Ebony, Coromandel
Country of origin: Celebes
Occurrence: Celebes, possibly also Moluccas, Borneo, as veneer wood very rare, because mostly growing only in small dimensions and lengths.
Uses: decorative interior woodwork and furniture, parquet, special wood for turning and carving.
Character: The very hard Makassar belongs to the colored ebony woods. Its elegant dark veneer has a gray-brown to reddish-brown basic tone with dark brown to black color stripes. The smooth and strikingly glossy surfaces thus take on a distinctly striped texture. Dark mineral content can occasionally be seen on the side surfaces in the pore grooves.
Special Features: Ebony is the wood of trees of the Diospyros genus, which belong to the ebony family. Its black or black-brown coloration and the fine, clearly visible stripes, which give the wood a particularly distinctive texture, are characteristic. When processed, ebony has a particularly smooth surface. Ebony was already considered particularly valuable by the ancient Egyptians, and since then it has been used in almost all cultures for fine and finest wood products – especially for inlay work (marquetry) and for veneers, but also for musical instruments.