WOOD ART...

TAGUA NUTS are often referred to as vegetable ivory. They are actually a nut that grows on a palm tree on plantations in Central and South America. Tagua nuts were used extensively during the Victorian period to produce fashionable buttons. They are rather small, seldom larger than 2 inches in height and have a hollow seed core. Yet they are fun to work with and can be beautifully polished. The renewable material is indistinguishable from ivory except by the grain pattern as seen under magnification.