How much do Golden Silk Nanmu saplings cost, and how do you tell the real from the fake?

Golden Silk Nanmu (Phoebe zhennan) is a precious wood unique to China. The wood of Golden Silk Nanmu naturally carries a fragrance, its grain is straight and its structure fine and dense, and it is not prone to warping or cracking, making it an excellent timber for construction, high-grade furniture and the like. In ancient times, Golden Silk Nanmu was reserved for the construction and furniture of royal palaces and a small number of temples. So how much do Golden Silk Nanmu saplings cost? And how do you tell the real from the fake?

1. The price of Golden Silk Nanmu saplings

Golden Silk Nanmu is a large tree of the genus Phoebe in the family Lauraceae. It originates from Sichuan and other places in China, and in the wild it is mostly found in broad-leaved forests below 1500 m in elevation. It can grow to more than 30 m tall, its trunk is generally straight, and its twigs are usually rather slender. Golden Silk Nanmu contains far more crystals than ordinary nanmu, and in sunlight golden threads appear on the surface of the wood, along with a subtle, elegant fragrance. Among all Golden Silk Nanmu, the material from Sichuan is the finest; it is a Class II protected plant in China.

Golden Silk Nanmu is extremely precious, and the longer its growth history, the higher its price. The price of Golden Silk Nanmu seedlings can be said to be quite cheap nowadays, but the tree species and cultivation conditions differ from region to region, and so do the prices of the saplings. The price of a sapling mainly depends on its height and its diameter at breast height (DBH); generally, the taller the tree and the larger its DBH, the higher the price. A sapling 20 cm tall costs around one yuan, while one 300 cm tall costs around 55 yuan, and one with a DBH of 13 cm costs around 1500 yuan. These prices are for reference only; the specific price should be based on the local agricultural market.

2. Telling the real from the fake

Golden Silk Nanmu is the highest-quality category of nanmu, because its resources are rare and its growth is extremely slow. Since ancient times it has been a symbol of royal culture, and it is called the “emperor”s wood”. In ancient Chinese architecture, Golden Silk Nanmu was always regarded as the most ideal, most precious and highest-grade building material, and it was widely used in palaces and imperial gardens, altars, temples and tombs. For important buildings of the Ming Dynasty such as the palace city, the city gate towers and the temporary palaces, nanmu was always used for the main beams. Golden Silk Nanmu has a very long history, and the ancients had considerable insight into telling genuine Golden Silk Nanmu from fakes; let us take a look together here.

The golden threads in nanmu are actually formed after the tree’s gum undergoes oxidation, but only the finest old zhennan material, after an oxidation process of more than a hundred years, has a chance to produce golden stripes. In summer, Golden Silk Nanmu secretes an oily substance that naturally keeps it glossy, so it needs no paint or varnish at all, while other hardwoods do not have these characteristics. Golden Silk Nanmu naturally gives off its own subtle fragrance, a fragrance that lies somewhere between “present” and “absent”; fake Golden Silk Nanmu has no fragrance, or has a pungent smell.

That is all for Golden Silk Nanmu. Friends who are interested can buy a few plants and take them home to grow.