The main island, Apo Island -- not to be confused with the better known island of the same name off the island of Negros in the central Philippines -- is a palm-fringed beauty, ringed by golden sand and home to an emerald-green interior lagoon embraced by mangroves.

BBC: The undiscovered jewel of the Philippines

And it is this rich, rare, one-of-a-kind figure that is the golden grail from which woodworkers can create works of unspeakable beauty-and for which hardwood dealers can charge unspeakable prices.

NPR: Excerpt: 'A Splintered History Of Wood'