Small Bird's Eye Maple Wood Jewelry Box. Same wood throughout, with an unvarnished interior bottom. 

Size: 7 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 2 1/2 in. 

Bird’s eye is a type of figure that occurs within several kinds of wood, most notably hard maple. It has a distinctive pattern that resembles tiny, swirling eyes disrupting the smooth lines of grain. It is somewhat reminiscent of a burl, but the small knots that make the burl are missing. It is not known what causes the phenomenon, but research into the cultivation of bird’s eye maple has so far discounted the theories that it is caused by pecking birds deforming the wood grain or that an infecting fungus makes it twist. However, no one has demonstrated a complete understanding of any combination of climate, soil, tree variety, insects, viruses, or genetic mutations that may produce the effect. Bird’s eye figures have been found in red maple, white ash, Cuban mahogany, American beech, black walnut, and yellow birch. Trees that grow in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States yield the greatest supply, along with some varieties in the Rocky Mountains. It is not uncommon in Huon Pine, which grows only in Tasmania. Although a tree’s bark may offer a few clues that indicate the lumber might have bird’s eye figure, felling the tree and cutting it apart is necessary to know for sure. The characteristic, since it does not affect the strength of the wood but is purely aesthetic, is considered extremely valuable by some manufacturers. While woodworkers prize the timber primarily for its use in veneers, it also turns well on a lathe, allowing it to be shaped into decorative canes, chair legs, and handles. Bird’s eye maple may be expensive, up to several times the cost of ordinary hardwood. It is used in refined specialty products, such as in automobile trim, both in solid form and veneer, boxes and bowls for jewelry, humidors, canes, furniture inlays, handles, guitars, bowed instruments, custom rifle stocks and pool cues.