Ebony vs Sandalwood vs Rosewood Bracelets: What the Wood Is

Loch Ness · PREVERJENO ALI SAMO OBČUTKI? · Wood guide

“Ebony”, “sandalwood” and “rosewood” sound like three woods. They are three trade names, and each can hide several trees — some of them protected. We checked what each name should mean, and compared it with what our own bracelets look like. One of them is probably not what its listing says.

For the carvings on these bracelets, see our guide to carved wood bead bracelets.

Olive-green wood bead bracelet sold as sandalwood, held in the hand

The three woods at a glance

Name	What it should be	Colour	Stanje
Ebony	Diospyros trees; African ebony is D. crassiflora (PROTA)	Jet-black to dark brown with black streaks	Severe overharvesting worldwide (Wikipedia); African ebony listed as endangered (Advantage Lumber)
Sandalwood	Santalum album, white or Indian sandalwood (Wikipedia)	Yellow-brown, hard, fragrant heartwood (Springer)	Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List
Rosewood	A trade name covering many species, the best known in the genus Dalbergia (CITES / WRI)	Varies by species	Whole Dalbergia genus under CITES Appendix II since 2017

Ebony

African ebony is heavy — 900 to 1,010 kg per m³ — and its heartwood ranges from jet-black to black-brown or dark brown with black streaks (PROTA). So a brown bead is not automatically fake ebony.

Ebony trees are small and slow-growing, and demand has led to severe overharvesting (Wikipedia). African ebony is on the IUCN Red List as endangered, and Diospyros species from Madagascar are under CITES Appendix II (Advantage Lumber).

Our bracelets: most of our carved pieces are sold as ebony. The wood was verified on one bracelet in episode 1. The others, and the species, are not checked yet. On the photos, that same bracelet looks light brown rather than black, which is worth a closer look.

Verdict: ⚪ Still investigating — verified on one bracelet, species unknown.

Sandalwood: the green problem

True sandalwood, Santalum album, has a hard, fragrant, yellow-brown heartwood (Springer). Overexploitation has made the wild population vulnerable to extinction (Wikipedia).

“Green sandalwood” is something else. It is usually verawood, Bulnesia sarmientoi, a fragrant wood that is not botanically related to sandalwood (IndiOdyssey; Première Peau). Its heartwood ranges from light olive green to chocolate brown, and it was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2018 (Wikipedia). It moved to CITES Appendix II in 2010 (Première Peau; Bois-Exotique).

Our bracelet: sold as “genuine sandalwood”, it is clearly olive green with darker streaks on every photo — the colour of verawood, not of true sandalwood.

Verdict: 🟡 Partial — “sandalwood” holds only as the trade name “green sandalwood”; “genuine” doesn’t, if the colour is what it looks like. Physical check pending.

→ See the bracelet

Rosewood

“Rosewood” is a family of trade names. In 2016, CITES listed the entire Dalbergia genus — some 250 species, including many of the most prized rosewoods — in Appendix II, in force since 2 January 2017, largely because of illegal cutting for replica antique “hongmu” furniture (CITES / WRI).

Since 26 November 2019, finished products containing up to 10 kg of Dalbergia rosewood per shipment no longer need CITES permits; Brazilian rosewood, Dalbergia nigra, is the exception (Australian Government factsheet). A bead bracelet weighs a few dozen grams.

Our bracelet: plain beads with a strong, contrasting grain, two gourd-shaped beads and a wood-slice pendant. We don’t know yet which species it is, or whether it is a Dalbergia at all.

Rosewood bead bracelet with strongly contrasting grain, gourd-shaped beads and a wood-slice pendant

Verdict: ⚪ Still investigating — species unknown.

→ See the bracelet

What we’re doing about it

We are asking our supplier for the botanical name of every wood we sell, and for the documents that go with it. When we have them, this page gets a dated update — and if a listing is wrong, the listing gets corrected too, not just this article.

Choosing between them, honestly

Want scent? True sandalwood and green sandalwood are both fragrant woods; ebony isn’t sold for its scent.
Want weight and a black finish? Ebony is among the heaviest; see our 20 mm bead guide for what that means on the wrist.
Care about sourcing? Ask for the botanical name. A trade name alone — ebony, sandalwood, rosewood — doesn’t tell you which tree, or whether it is protected.

Pogosto zastavljena vprašanja

Is green sandalwood real sandalwood?

No. It is usually verawood, Bulnesia sarmientoi, which is not botanically related to true sandalwood (IndiOdyssey).

Is brown ebony fake?

Not necessarily: African ebony heartwood can be dark brown with black streaks (PROTA).

Do I need a CITES permit for a rosewood bracelet?

For Dalbergia rosewood, finished products under 10 kg per shipment have been exempt since 2019, except Brazilian rosewood (Australian Government factsheet). Rules for other protected woods differ.

Can these woods irritate the skin?

Ebony of the Diospyros genus has been reported as a sensitizer, though severe reactions are uncommon (Advantage Lumber). Verawood sawdust has been reported to cause sneezing (Bois-Exotique). If your skin reacts, stop wearing it.

Help us close the open verdicts

If you work with wood and can identify these species from photos, email contact@lochness-paris.com. We’ll update the verdict publicly and credit you.

Browse the wood bead bracelets

Viri

Update log

[À COMPLÉTER : date] — First publication. 2 verdicts open, 1 partial. Supplier asked for botanical names.