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Would appreciate opinion if this chest bought about 15 years ago in Singapore reputed to be Huanghuali actually is.

Not huanghuali.
The cabinet is built in the manner of traditional Chinese compound cabinets, but I believe this modern copy is made from Hawaiian koa wood....quite lovely and fairly expensive wood, too, but not at the level of HH.

Thank you. Guess I am a bit surprised that Hawaiian Koa wood used in Singapore (where I bought it) almost 20 years ago, but possible. I researched Koa wood and yes while not huanghuali it is quite expensive and to have that much of it to make a cabinet this size not so usual? I have this and other Asian art cabinets and chest, e.g. a large 3 piece stacking camphor wood chest and wanted to sell one or two pieces. I focused on this chest as one of the finer pieces that might get a decent price. I knew it clearly wasn't an antique, paid on order $1,500 as noted almost 20 year ago, supposed $2,000 or a bit higher at Chinese arts dealer warehouse with good reputation before shipping it back, might be reasonable but now uncertain. Appreciate not a valuation but any thoughts on likely sales value range of this chest?

I'm not sure why you'd be surprised that a 'huanghuali' looking wood would be imported into Singapore 20 years ago (1999). The demand for huanghuali has always been high, more so at the end of the 20th c. / beginning of 21st c., so to me it seems a logical option for furniture makers to seek out any & all comparable woods to meet growing demand.

That said, my assessment of the wood species is based upon your photos, not physical inspection, and so it may not be koa, but for certain it is not huanghuali.

I own one koa wood bench, and have seen a few other koa pieces in the marketplace, and all seem to be constructed in traditional Chinese furniture manner.

I have seen a large table being offered for $3,000 some time back, so the wood appears to be available in sizes that would accommodate cabinet or other large furniture items.

Value? That's an issue for me. Huanghuali is valuable primarily for its historical use and importance, then for its esthetics. As far as I know, koa wood only has its esthetics and its similarity in color to huanghuali, so it can never achieve the same kind of value.

So, the value of koa is more like a commodity than it is art or antiquity. The demand for it may only be by a small population of interested buyers, such as those living in Hawaii who appreciate local traditional wood, or by those who want the huanghuali look, but can't afford the real thing, or those who buy it mistakenly as HH.

In either case, I don't have any insight on this type of info, so I'm not able to help.

Best,
Tim

Hi there,
Well there certainly is a strong possibility these cabinets came from a company called HOUSE OF HUANGHUALI based in Singapore. I would say, most likely made in the 80's; but these images are not enough to give you an absolute answer either way. We do provide free timber identification from images, as advertised on our website. www.rarefurniture.org
We keep a fairly comprehensive timber sample xylorium at our studio in London, and have failsafe tests. You are welcome to get hold of me on the e-mail provided above.
Fingers crossed,
Kirk

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