Material Ancient kauri wood. Measurements H 2.5" ‚¬â€œ4.5" Diameter 9" ‚¬â€œ11"; Size varies due to natural material. Helpful Notes Shipped via Standard Service Ancient Kauri Bowl $598 $54/month and 25% off shipping? Learn more. Add to Order Save to My Wish List Print this Page Email this Page Often, when people say “old they are referring to something that happened in the 1950's. When leading New Zealand wood turner Alby Hall calls his lustrous kauri wood old, he means it comes from trees that were standing 45,000 years ago. In 1992 the first preserved trunks of ancient kauri, a primitive hardwood pine, were pulled from airless peat swamps. Now, Hall, a wood turner, takes the kauri and hand lathes each bowl after a lengthy and highly exacting kiln-drying process, insuring that no two pieces are identical. The bowls have a natural edge and a timeless appeal.More Kauri BackgroundSimilar in density to cherry, the Kauri tree is an ancient conifer native to New Zealand, where the giants of the family (Agathis Australis) have grown since prehistory. Sometime around 45,000 BCE an environmental event occurred in the upper reaches of New Zealand's Northern Island that felled much of the Kauri forests, burying whole trees in peat swamps. Highly acidic and oxygen-free, the swamps have prevented the trees from decomposing throughout millennia. In fact, when the first prehistoric trees were resurrected, New Zealanders uncovered trees with leaves still in good, if slightly discolored, condition. Alby Hall is one of the most celebrated wood turners in New Zealand today, and his work in ancient Kauri bows to the prehistoric nature of the material both in the slow and careful production of each piece and in his effort to create timeless
